LINCOLN 

IN THE 

TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

DAVID HOMER BATES 



LINCOLN 

IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 




4i 

T3 






c 



■<-> 

c 



o 
u 
c 



c 

'to 



LINCOLN 

IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 



RECOLLECTIONS OF THE UNITED 
STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH 
CORPS DURING THE CIVIL WAR 



BY 

DAVID HOMER BATES 

MANAGER OF THE WAR DEPARTMENT TELEGRAPH 
OFFICE, AND CIPHER-OPERATOR, 1861-1866 



PgfC'^id::^ <^.--«a-«rt(^ 




4 \ 



NEW YORK 

THE CENTURY CO. 

1907 






Copyrifiht, 1907, by 
Thk Cfxtiry Co. 



Publislu'd, October, 1907 



THE DE VINNE PRESS 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

1 Introduction 3 

II Organization of the Military Telegraph 

Corps 14 

III The War Department Telegraph Office 38 

IV Cipher-codes and Messages 49 

V Confederate Ciphee-codes and Inter- 
cepted Despatches 68 

VI In the First Months of the War ... 86 

VII McClellan's Disagreements nvith the 

Administration 101 

VIII Lincoln in Touch with Army Movements 113 

IX Eckert, Chief of the War Department 

Telegraph Staff 124 

X The First Draft of the Emancipation 

Proclamation 138 

XI The Gettysburg and Vicksbt'rg Year . . 154 

xii Lincoln's Tender Treatment of Rose- 

crans 158 

xm A Remarkable Feat in Railroad Trans- 
portation 172 

XIV Lincoln in Every-day Humor .... 183 



V 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XV Lincoln's Love for His Children . . . 208 

XVI A Bogus Proclamation 228 

xvii Grant's Wilderness Campaign .... 244 

XVIII Lincoln Under Fire at Fort Stevens . . 250 

XIX Cables and Signals 257 

XX Lincoln's Forebodings of Defeat at the 

Polls 267 

XXI Conspirators in Canada 287 

XXII The Attempt to Burn New York . . . 299 

xxin Grant's Orders for the Removal of 

Thomas 310 

XXIV The Abortive Peace Conference at 

Hampton Roads 322 

XXV Lincoln's Last Days 343 

XXVI The Assassination 364 

xxvii Payne, the Assassin 377 

xxvni Lincoln's Manner Contrasted with Stan- 
ton's 389 

Api'endix 411 

Index 427 



VI 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

President Lincoln in the War Department tele- 
graph office, writing the first draft of the Emanci- 
pation Proclamation Frontispiece 



PAGE 



Samuel M. Brown, David Strouse, Richard O'Brien, 
David Homer Bates 17 

Andrew Carnegie in 1861 23 

Major Albert E. H. Johnson, Brigadier-General 
Edwards S. Sanford 33 

Colonel William B. Wilson, Colonel James R. Gil- 
more 43 

Facsimile of the telegraphic cipher-code used by the 
United States Government in 1861 .... 51 

Facsimile of two pages of the last cipher-book in 
the War Department series, printed for the first 
time in "Century Magazine"" for June, 1907 . 57 

Facsimile of a Confederate cipher-letter .... 73 

Facsimile of the Confederate cipher-code found on 
April 6, 1865, by Charles A. Dana, among the 
archives of the Confederate State Department in 
Richmond, printed for the first time in ' ' Century 
Magazine"" for June, 1901 77 

Colonel Thomas A. Scott, Assistant Secretary of 
War, 1861 . 89 

vii 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 



Major Thomas T. Eckeit 127 

Plan of the cipher-room in the War Department 
telegraph office ^^^ 

The old War Department building -^^>^ 

Facsimile (reduced) of the despatch to Robert A. 
Maxwell, which Lincoln wrote for transmission, 
but soon after countermanded j^q 

A duplicate of Wintrup's signature 207 

Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of AVar 1862-1868 . 219 

Facsimile of Lincoln's autographic estimate of the 
electoral vote of 1864 g^g 

Facsimile (reduced) of Lincoln's despateli to Mrs. 
Lincoln of 7:45 P.M., April 2, 1865 . . . .347 

Facsimile (reduced) of Lincoln's cipher-despatch, in 
which he announced the fall of Petersburg and 
Richmond g^g 

Facsimile (reduced) of Lincoln's despatch of 5 p.m., 
April 3, 1865 353 

Facsimile, on this and the following page, of the 
manuscript of Secretary Stanton's order to the 
armies for honoring the memory of the murdered 
President 3Y^ 

Charles Almerin Tinker, David Homer Bates, Thomas 
Thompson Eckert, Albert Brown Chandler . . 393 

Facsimile (reduced) of Secretary Stanton's letter ac- 
cepting Major Eckert's resignation .... 405 



vni 



LINCOLN 

IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 



LINCOLN IN THE 
TELEGRAPH OFFICE 



INTRODUCTION 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN has been studied 
^ from almost every point of view, but it is 
a notable fact that none of his biographers has 
ever seriously considered that branch of the 
Government service with which Lincoln was in 
daily personal touch for four years — the mili- 
tary telegraph; for during the Civil War the 
President spent more of his waking hours in the 
War Department telegraph office than in any 
other place, except the White House/ While in 
the telegraph office he was comparatively free 
from official cares, and therefore more apt to dis- 

* During the Civil War the Executive Mansion was not as now 
connected by telegraph, and all the President's telegrams were 
handled at the War Department. 

3 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

close his natural traits and disposition than else- 
where under other conditions. 

It is hard to realize that an entire generation 
has been born into the world, and that a second 
generation is nearing maturity, since the death 
of Lincoln — 

"The kindly, earnest, brave, foreseeing man^ 
Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame. 
New birth of our new soil, the first American."^ 

The earliest date which the writer has been able 
to find relating to Lincoln's presence in a tele- 
graph office is supplied by Charles A. Tinker, 
one of the cipher-operators in the War Depart- 
ment during the Civil War, in his "Personal Rem- 
iniscences of Abraham Lincoln." He says that in 
the month of March, 1857, he was employed as 
telegraph-operator in the Tazewell House, Pekin, 
Illinois, which was the headquarters during suc- 
cessive terms of the judge of the circuit, and of 
the lawyers in attendance on court. On one occa- 
sion, after watching young Tinker's expert 
manipulation of the Morse key, and seeing him 
write down an incoming message, which he re- 
ceived by sound, an unusual accomplishment in 
those early days, Lincoln asked him to explain 

^Lowell's Harvard Commemoration Ode, July, 1865. 

4 



INTRODUCTION 

the operation of the new and mysterious force. 
Tinker gladly complied with the request, going 
into details, beginning at the battery, the source 
of the electric current, which, in its passage 
through the coils of the magnet, sein^es to attract 
an iron armature connected with a retractile 
spring, which pulls back the armature from the 
magnet whenever the electric current is broken. 
By this means, as Tinker explained to Lincoln, 
the now more familiar dots and dashes of the 
Morse telegraph signals are sent and received. 

Tinker says that Lincoln seemed to be greatly 
interested in his explanation, and asked pertinent 
questions showing an observing mind already well 
furnished with knowledge of collateral facts and 
natural phenomena; and that he comprehended 
quite readily the operation of the telegraph, which 
at that time was a comparatively new feature in 
business and social intercourse; for it should be 
remembered that before that time wires had been 
extended west of the Alleghany Mountains only 
five or six years. 

From this early period until the day of his 
death, eight years afterward, Lincoln's connec- 
tion A\nth the telegraph was very close and inti- 
mate. 

5 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Napoleon's meteoric career extended from the 
Reign of Terror to Waterloo, twenty-one years ; 
Grant's from Donelson to McGregor, twenty- 
three years; Washington's public life covered 
twenty-four years, Jackson's thirty, Jefferson's 
fifty, while Gladstone's extended over sixty 
years. Frederick Trevor Hill, in "Lincoln the 
Lawyer" [p. 262], says his national reputation 
dates from his Cooper Union speech (February 
27, 1860). I should be inclined to go farther 
back, to June 16, 1858, when in his celebrated 
Springfield speech at the Illinois Republican 
State Convention (by which he had been named 
as a candidate for United States Senator) he an- 
nounced his creed: "... I believe this Govern- 
ment cannot endure permanently half slave and 
half free. I do not expect the Union to be dis- 
solved . . . but I do expect it will cease to be 
divided." 

Thank God that long since, from the Lakes to 
the Gulf and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 
that creed has been accepted by his countrymen, 
and the Union has proven itself to be "one and 
inseparable." 

But even thus, Lincoln's national career com- 
prised less than seven years, four of which were 

6 



INTRODUCTION 

spent in the presidential chair. Ah'eady Roose- 
velt, who was born in 1858, the year of Lincoln's 
prophetic speech above mentioned, has seen much 
longer public service. 

During the last four years of Lincoln's national 
career, even until the day before its tragic end- 
ing, the writer was fortunate in being able to see 
him and talk with him daily, and usually several 
times a day ; for he visited the War Department 
telegraph office morning, afternoon, and evening, 
to receive the latest news from the armies at the 
front. His tall, homely form could be seen cross- 
ing the well-shaded lawn between the White 
House and the War Department day after day 
with unvaried regularity. 

In cool weather he invariably wore a gray plaid 
shawl thrown over his shoulders in careless fash- 
ion, and, upon entering the telegraph office, he 
would always hang this shawl over the top of the 
high, screen door opening into Secretary Stan- 
ton's room, adjoining. This door was nearly al- 
ways open. He seldom failed to come over late 
in the evening before retiring, and sometimes he 
would stay all night in the War Department. 
When returning to the White House after dark, 
he was frequently accompanied by Major Eckert, 

7 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

and nearly always by a small guard of soldiers. 
He sometimes protested against this latter pre- 
caution as unnecessary, but Secretary Stanton's 
orders to the guard were imperative. 

It was in the War Department telegraph office 
that Lincoln received from the writer's hands, on 
May 24, 1861, the message announcing the shoot- 
ing of his young friend. Colonel Ellsworth, at 
the Jackson House, Alexandria; and it was Lin- 
coln's own despatch in cipher, from City Point 
on April 3, 1865, that gave us in Washington 
our earliest news of Grant's capture of Peters- 
burg and Richmond. 

Therefore it seemed fitting that after his assas- 
sination, when the entire country was searching 
for the murderer, the first authentic news of 
Booth's whereabouts should come from Grant's 
cipher-operator, Samuel H. Beckwith, who tele- 
graphed from Port Tobacco, Maryland, April 
24, 1865, to General Eckert, Chief of the War 
Department telegraph staff, that Booth had been 
traced to a swamp near by. Thirty-six hours 
after Beckwith's despatch reached Washington 
the assassin was hunted down and shot.^ 

^ On April 20, 186.5, the Secretary of War offered a large reward 
for Booth's arrest, and there were so many claimants for the 

8 



INTRODUCTION 

Lincoln's daily visits to the telegraph office 
were therefore greatly relished by him and of 
course were highly prized by the cipher-opera- 
tors. He would there relax from the strain and 
care ever present at the White House, and while 
waiting for fresh despatches, or while they were 
being deciphered, would make running com- 
ments, or tell his inimitable stories. Outside the 
members of his cabinet and his private secreta- 
ries, none were brought into closer or more confi- 
dential relations with Lincoln than the cipher- 
operators. Of his official family not one now 
survives; and of the leading generals who met 
Lincoln in person, there remain only Howard, 
Sickles, and Dodge; but there are still living 
(1907), at least five witnesses of those stirring 
scenes, namely: Thomas T. Eckert, Charles A. 
Tinker, Albert B. Chandler, and the writer — 
who served as cipher-operators in the War De- 
partment telegraph office — and Albert E. H. 
Johnson, custodian of military telegrams. Eck- 
ert was our chief and Johnson facetiously called 
the others the "Sacred Three." Each of this 
little company has heretofore written some more 

fund that its distribution was referred to the Committee on Claims 
in Congress, who awarded five hundred dollars to Beckwith for his 
part in the service leading to Booth's apprehension. 

9 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

or less desultory recollections of the Civil War 
period, and has been from time to time impor- 
tuned to place on record, while it is possible, a 
fuller and more orderly account of our unique 
experiences in the War Department, which it is 
my present effort to do. A few of the incidents 
mentioned in this volume have heretofore ap- 
peared in print, but their repetition now is clearly 
justified, since they properly belong to any de- 
tailed account of "Lincoln in the Telegraph Of- 
fice." In fact such an account would be incom- 
plete without them. And also because of their col- 
lateral interest, and for the purpose of throwing 
light upon the general subject, certain data re- 
lating more particularly to the United States 
military telegraph are included. 

We read with unfailing interest of the wars 
of Alexander, of Frederick the Great, and 
of Napoleon, but in their day there was no elec- 
tric telegraph or other means of quick commu- 
nication. The events of history succeeding their 
mighty conflicts were slow in movement, and the 
knowledge of those events slower still in reaching 
distant points. Even in our own country's short 
history, it is recalled that Jackson fought and 

10 



INTRODUCTION 

won the battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1815, 
two weeks after the Treaty of Ghent had been 
signed. On the other hand, the Treaty of Ports- 
mouth, August, 1905, was flashed to the utter- 
most parts of the civilized world in less than forty 
minutes, the space of time in which Puck said he 
could "put a girdle round about the earth." 

In our Civil War the Morse telegraph was for 
the first time employed to direct widely separated 
armies and move them in unison, and news of 
victories or defeats was flashed almost instantly 
all over our broad land. In fact the history of 
our Civil War was largely recorded by the tele- 
graph, and that branch of the service Stanton, the 
great War Secretary, called his "right arm." In 

his annual report, December 5, 1863, he used this 
language : 

The military telegraph, under the general direction of 
Colonel Stager and Major Eckert, has been of inestimable 
value to the service and no corps has surpassed — few have 
equaled — the telegraph-operators in diligence and devotion 
to their duties. 

The operations of the United States Military 
Telegraph Corps, as described by Grant in his 
memoirs. Volume II, page 205 et seq., were no 
doubt closely studied by the quick-witted Japa- 
nese in preparing plans for their recent campaign 

11 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

against Russia, which were so favorably com- 
mented upon by Emperor William in his Stras- 
burg sj^eech (March 12, 1905). In that address 
he specially commended INIarshal Oyama for "re- 
maining away from the scene of actual conflict at 
the battle of INIukden, and directing the widely 
extending struggle, receiving telegraphic reports 
and sending telegraphic orders while sitting 
quiet, like a chess-player who can at once follow 
move by move." 

As throwing additional light upon the work 
of our corps during the Civil War, the following 
brief references, taken at random from volumi- 
nous data bearing upon the subject, are quoted: 

Quartermaster- General Meigs, in his report 
to the Secretary of War, November 3, 1864, says: 

The operators have shown great zeal, intrepidity, fidelity, 
and skill. Their duties are arduous and the trust reposed 
in them great. I have seen a telegraph-operator in a tent 
in a malarious locality shivering with ague, lying upon his 
camp cot with his ear near the instrument, listening for 
messages which might direct or arrest movements of mili- 
tary armies. Night and day they are at their posts. . . . 

Senator Scott of West Virginia in a speech to 
the Senate, February 8, 1906, on House bill 8088, 
said: 

12 



INTRODUCTION 

. . . The military telegraphers came under the imme- 
diate direction of President Lincoln as Commander in 
Chief through the Secretary of War. The movements of 
the armies^ the secrets of the nation, were intrusted to them, 
and yet not one was ever known to betray that knowledge 
and confidence in the most remote degree. History records 
no other war where the armies were so widely scattered 
and where prior to ours they were so well informed of each 
other's movements. 



13 



II 



ORGANIZATION OF THE MILITARY TELEGRAPH 

CORPS 

FORT SUMTER'S fateful signals had not 
ceased reverberating over the hills and val- 
leys of the North before the electric telegraph 
flashed a message from Washington calling for 
telegraph operators for service in defense of the 
Union. This message and its answer are repro- 
duced from memory, as follows : 

Washington, D. C, April 22, 1861. 
David McCargo, 

Supt. Telegraphs^, Penna. Railroad Co., Altoona, Pa. 

Send four of your best operators to Washington at once, 
prepared to enter Government telegraph service for the war. 

(Signed) Andrew Carnegie, 

19 Words paid. Govt. 

Altoona, Pa., April 23, I86I. 
Andrew Carnegie, 

War Department, Washington, D. C. 

Message received. Strouse from Mifflin, Brown from 

14 



THE MILITARY TELEGRAPH CORPS 

Pittsburgh, O'Brien from Greensburg, and Bates from Al- 
toona, will start for Washington immediately. 

(Signed) David McCargo, Supt. Telegraph. 
20 Words collect. Govt. 

These are the earliest official despatches in our 
service which can be definitely recalled. 

At the outbreak of the Civil War, the writer 
was employed in the telegraph department of the 
Pennsylvania Railroad at Altoona, Pennsylvania. 
On April 14, 1861, the first Sunday after Sum- 
ter's fall, the Rev. Samuel Creighton, my pastor, 
— who is still living at Markleton, Pennsylvania, 
— preached a patriotic sermon in the little JNIeth- 
odist church, and during the following week re- 
cruiting for the army under the terms of the 
President's call for 75,000 militia, dated April 
15, was actively carried on, the inspiring sounds 
of fife and diTim being heard all day long. 
My ardor rose almost to the enlisting point, 
when I received orders from my superintendent 
to start at once for Washington to report for 
duty in accordance with the telegraphic corre- 
spondence quoted above. 

Andrew Carnegie was then superintendent of 
the Pittsburg Division of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad, but at that time was in Washington, 

15 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

acting as assistant to Colonel Thomas A. Scott, 
who had just been appointed general manager of 
military railroads and telegraph-lines by Secre- 
tary of War Cameron. My companions were 
David Strouse, Samuel M. Brown, and Richard 
O'Brien. We left on April 25, 1861, traveling 
via Philadelphia, stopping over at Harrisburg 
long enough to have our pictures taken by the 
now old-fashioned ambrotype process; and the 
writer still cherishes, with other war-time relics, 
his copy of that old picture. 

Reaching Perryville, Maryland, w^ found that 
a force of Southern sympathizers from Balti- 
more, under Marshal Kane and a man named 
Isaac R. Trimble,^ a former superintendent of 
the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore 
Railroad, recently appointed chief of the po- 
lice force of Baltimore, had destroyed the rail- 
road bridges over the Bush and Gunpowder riv- 
ers, so that we were compelled to go by water 
to Annapolis, sailing on the steamer Maryland^ 
at that time used for transporting railroad cars 
across the Susquehanna River. ( This boat, since 
rebuilt, may still be seen in similar daily service 

^ See Wm. Bender Wilson's "History of the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road," Vol. I, p. 319. 

16 




From an anibrotype 

Samuel M. Brown 

David Strouse Richard O'Brien 

David Homer Bates 

First four opcnitors in tlie United States Military 
li'les-raph Corps, April, 1861 



THE MILITARY TELEGRAPH CORPS 

in New York harbor.) She had just returned 
from her first trip to Annapolis with the Eighth 
Massachusetts. On the voyage we met Ormsby 
M. Mitchel, noted astronomer and soldier, and 
our sleeping accommodations, like his, were odor- 
ous coffee-bags. At Annapolis, after reporting to 
General Benjamin F. Butler, in command, the 
quartet of operators loitered about the old rail- 
road station until we could find room on one of 
the crowded trains to Washington, all troops 
from the North having been ordered to proceed 
by that route instead of through Baltimore, be- 
cause of the opposition of citizens of that city to 
the passage of Federal troops, and also because 
of the destruction of railroad bridges north of 
Baltimore. 

Although a native of Steubenville, Ohio, the 
writer during his boyhood had never crossed the 
Ohio River into Virginia, then a slave state, and 
had never seen a slave. It was therefore a new 
experience for him, a boy in years, as he walked 
the streets of Maryland's capital, to be curtsied 
to by colored women, and to observe colored men, 
old and young, lift their hats or caps and bow 
obsequiously as they passed by. We had learned 
at Annapolis that Carnegie, with his corps of 
2 19 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

workmen, had repaired the single-track railroad 
to Annapolis Junction and was then on the line 
somewhere near Washington. 

The following account of ^Mr. Carnegie's work 
in connection with the United States military 
telegraph was prepared after a recent interview 
with him, and has received his indorsement : 

In the month of April, 1861, just after Sum- 
ter's fall, Simon Cameron, then Secretary of 
War, requested President Thomson of the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad to spare Vice-President 
Thomas A. Scott for a time, to get the railroad 
and telegraph service under proper control. 
Colonel Scott asked that Andrew Carnegie, then 
superintendent of the Pittsburg Division, should 
accompany and assist him. President Thomson 
acquiesced. This was just before the Sixth Mas- 
sachusetts, on April 19, 1861, was assaulted while 
passing through the streets of Baltimore en route 
to the capital. 

Mr. Carnegie went to Washington via Phila- 
delphia and Perryville, thence to Annapolis by 
the ferry-boat Maryland, which also carried the 
Eighth Massachusetts.^ He had drafted from 

^Captain J. P. Reynolds, who served with the Eighth Massa- 
chusetts in the Civil War, furnishes the following notes of its 
journey to Washington: 

20 



THE MILITARY TELEGRAPH CORPS 

his railroad division, and brought with him, the 
nucleus of a strong railroad force, so that the 
Government would be able at once to take posses- 
sion of and operate the railroads about Wash- 
ington. This force consisted of conductors, train- 
men, trackmen, road-supervisors, bridge-builders, 
etc. 

Arriving at Annapolis, Samuel F. Barr of 
Pittsburg, who was made commissary, took pos- 
session of a fine mansion which the owners had 
deserted, and the entire force made that ancient 
town its headquarters for the time being. Their 
first work was to repair the railroad and tele- 
graph-line which had been wrecked by a band of 
raiders from Baltimore. This occupied them 
several days. Skilled men detailed from the 
Eighth Massachusetts rendered valuable ser- 
vice. Meanwhile General Benjamin F. Butler 
with his staff was the first to pass over the re- 
paired line. Carnegie was on the locomotive, 
and, when approaching Washington, he saw that 
the enemy had torn down the telegraph-line, and 

"Left Boston April 18, 1861, Jersey City, April 19. Stopped 
over night at Girard House, Philadelphia. Left Philadelphia 
April 20. Took Steamer Maryland at Perryville for Annapolis. 
Arrived Annapolis April 21. Arrived Washington, D. C, 
April 26. Reviewed by President Lincoln, marched to the Capitol, 
and quartered in the Rotunda." 

21 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

at one place had pinned the wires to the ground 
between two poles. Stopping the train, he 
jumped off, and, pulling the stake toward him, 
the released wires struck him in the face, knock- 
ing him over. He came into Washington bleed- 
ing profusely. We have always claimed that, 
so far as is known, the Military Telegraph Corps 
thus furnished the third man who bled for his 
country in the Civil War, the two JNIassachusetts 
men assaulted by the mob in Baltimore being the 
first and second. Mr. Carnegie has not yet ap- 
plied for a pension. 

When Carnegie reached Washington his first 
task was to establish a ferry to Alexandria 
and to extend the Baltimore & Ohio Rail- 
road track from the old depot in Washing- 
ton, along Maryland Avenue, to and across the 
Potomac, so that locomotives and cars might be 
crossed for use in Virginia. Long Bridge, over 
the Potomac, had to be rebuilt, and I recall the 
fact that under the direction of Carnegie and 
R. F. Morley,^ the railroad between Washington 
and Alexandria was comjDleted in the remarkably 
short period of seven days. All hands, from 

^ Morley, the first military railroad superintendent, and Strouse, 
the first military telegraph superintendent, literally worked them- 
selves to death. They both died before the year was out. 

22 




From a photograph by J. E. McClees, Philadelphia. Half-tone plate engraved by H. Davidson 

Andrew Carnegie in 1861 



THE MILITARY TELEGRAPH CORPS 

Carnegie down, worked day and night to accom- 
plish the task set before them. 

At the same time the telegraph-lines were ex- 
tended, and communication by wire was opened 
with outlying points. Telegraphers were in great 
demand, and were called for from all the leading 
systems, but chiefly from the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road, which was drained of many of its best men. 
Telegraph offices were opened at Alexandria, 
Burke's Station, Fairfax, and other points. 

Carnegie remained at the, capital until Novem- 
ber, continuing his work of organizing and per- 
fecting the military railroad and telegraph ser- 
vice, which by that time had been placed on such 
a firm basis that he could be spared to return to 
his former duties at Pittsburg, which post had 
become of prime importance because of the in- 
creasing demands of the Government in the 
matter of transporting troops and supplies for 
McClellan's army. 

The four boy operators, heretofore mentioned, 
reached Washington on Thursday, April 27, 
1861, and after securing rooms at the old Na- 
tional Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue at Sixth 
Street where the New York Seventh, recently 
arrived, were quartered, proceeded to the War 

25 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Department and reported to Thomas A. Scott, 
who had just been commissioned colonel of volun- 
teers, and who, on August 1, 1861, was appointed 
Assistant Secretary of War. 

The telegraph instruments were in Chief Clerk 
Sanderson's room, adjoining that of the Secre- 
tary of War. Upon entering, we could see 
through the open door two very tall, slim men. 
President Lincoln and Secretary Cameron, and 
General Winfield Scott, the old Mexican hero, 
who was massive as well as tall. To tell the truth, 
Lincoln's homely appearance did not at first im- 
press us favorably. We had heard of him as 
"Old Abe the rail-splitter," and he seemed to 
us uncouth and awkward, and he did not conform 
to our ideas of what a president should be ; while 
old General Scott, with his gold epaulets, sash, 
and sword, made a magnificent presence. But 
as afterward I saw Lincoln almost daily, often 
for hours at a time, I soon forgot his awkward 
appearance, and came to think of him as a very 
attractive and, indeed, lovable person. 

This, then, was the beginning, and the four 
young operators I have named, formed the nu- 
cleus of the United States Military Telegraph 
Corps, which later, at its maximum strength, con- 

26 



THE MILITARY TELEGRAPH CORPS 

tained over fifteen hundred members. In 1907, 
when these pages were written, the survivors 
numbered less than two hundred.^ 

The United States MiHtary Telegraph Corps 
was a special organization, and its members were 
not considered an integral part of the army (ex- 
cepting only ten or twelve holding commissions, 
to enable them officially to receive and disburse 
funds and property ) , nor were we under military 
control proper, our orders coming direct from 
the Secretary of War. 

Our first superintendent was David Strouse.^ 
His health was poor when he reached Washing- 
ton, and he overworked himself during the suc- 
ceeding months, dying in November of that year. 
Samuel M. Brown, another of the original group, 
died in 1877. James R. Gilmore succeeded 
Strouse, and he in turn was succeeded by Thomas 
T. Eckert, Gilmore having resigned. Gilpiore 
helped to organize the 126th Pennsylvania Vol- 
unteers, and was with that regiment until after 
Antietam and Fredericksburg. He then re- 

^ One of the recent deaths was that of Edward Rosewater, pro- 
prietor of the Omaha "Bee," who died in 1906 soon after his return 
from Rome, where he represented the United States as one of two 
delegates in the International Postal Congress. 

2 His official appointment bears date May 15, 1861. 

27 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

joined the Military Telegraph Corps, with which 
he was connected until a year after the war, serv- 
ing chiefly as superintendent in the Department 
of the South, under General Quincy A. Gillmore. 
He is still living at his old home, in Chambers- 
burg, Pennsylvania. 

My first assignment to duty was at the Navy 
Yard under Captain, afterward Rear- Admiral, 
Dahlgren, who directed the sergeant of the guard 
to keep a sentry in front of the door leading to 
the telegraph room, and to allow no one to enter 
or leave. These orders were obeyed literally, and 
for four days I was virtually a prisoner, my fru- 
gal meals being sent to me. The confinement be- 
came so irksome that on one occasion I locked the 
door and climbed out of the window; but on my 
return by the same route, the sentry overheard 
the noise I made, and when I opened the door he 
warned me that the manoeuver could be repeated 
only at the risk of a shot from his gun. 

Early in May I was transferred to Annapolis 
Junction, where on the night of the tenth I was 
roused from bed by General Butler, who ordered 
me to open the telegraph office and keep the rail- 
road track clear to Annapolis for the train carry- 
ing Ross Winans, whom he had that day arrested 

28 



THE MILITARY TELEGRAPH CORPS 

in Baltimore for treason. I continued to call the 
Annapolis office for several hours, but finally 
concluded that General Butler's train had either 
safely reached its destination or had encountered 
obstacles which I could not hope to remove. A 
fortnight later I returned to the War Depart- 
ment, and remained there on continuous duty 
until a year after the close of the war, excepting 
for two weeks in June, 1864, when I served as 
cipher-operator for General Grant at City Point. 
My second meeting with Abraham Lincoln 
was on May 24, 1861, my first service at 
that time being to record and deliver to him 
in person a telegram j^rom an advance office 
in Virginia, beyond Long Bridge, announc- 
ing the shooting of Colonel Ellsworth of 
the Fire Zouaves (Eleventh New York) at the 
Marshall House, Alexandria. Ellsworth had 
been a student in Lincoln's office before the war, 
and was held in high esteem by Lincoln, who, 
upon hearing the sad news of his death, wrote a 
touching letter of condolence to his parents from 
which the following extract is quoted: 

Washington, D. C, May 25, 1861. 
To the Father and Mother of Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth. 
My dear Sir and Madam: In the untimely loss of your 

29 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

noble son, our affliction here is scarcely less than your own. 
... In the hope that it may be no intrusion upon the 
sacredness of your sorrow, I have ventured to address you 
this tribute to the memory of my young friend and your 
brave and early fallen child. 

May God give you that consolation which is beyond all 
earthly power. 

Sincerely your friend in a common affliction, 

A. Lincoln. 

The entire letter shows the great man's sym- 
pathy with human sorrow and his close reliance 
upon God, which traits appear like golden threads 
running all through his published utterances and 
were exhibited in his every-day walk and conver- 
sation. My fellow telegrapher, Charles A. Tin- 
ker, thinks that Ellsworth, while studying law in 
Lincoln's office at Springfield about 1859, drew 
up the Illinois militia law. I am unable to con- 
firm this. Ellsworth accompanied Lincoln on his 
journey from Springfield to Washington in Feb- 
ruary, 1861. 

Amasa Stone of Cleveland, Ohio, whose daugh- 
ter afterward became the wife of John Hay, was 
a director and large holder of stock in the West- 
ern Union Telegraph Company, of which Anson 
Stager was general superintendent. Stone rec- 
ommended Stager to Secretary of War Cameron 
as a suitable person to take general charge of 

30 



THE MILITARY TELEGRAPH CORPS 

military telegraph matters. Meantime Stager 
had voluntarily cooperated with General McClel- 
lan in Ohio and Western Virginia, in the opera- 
tion of telegraph-lines required for military pur- 
poses. In accordance with Stone's suggestion 
Cameron telegraphed Stager to come to Wash- 
ington, which he did at once. Upon his arrival, 
he submitted a brief but comprehensive plan for 
a military telegraph service which was referred 
by Thomas A. Scott, Assistant Secretary of War, 
to the President, who returned it on the same day 
with this indorsement : 

Washington, D. C, Oct. 28, 1861. 
I have not sufficient time to study and mature an opinion 
on this plan. If the Secretary of War has confidence in it 
and is satisfied to adopt it, I have no objections. 

A. Lincoln.^ 

The Secretary of War formally approved the 
plan, and on November 11 Stager was appointed 
captain and assistant-quartermaster, and on No- 
vember 25 was assigned in Special Orders 313 to 
duty as general manager of military telegraph- 
lines. Stager was commissioned colonel in the army 
onFebruary 26, 1862, and brevet brigadier-general 

^Plum's "Military Telegraph," Vol. I, p. 129. 

31 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

on March 13, 1865, for meritorious service. Spe- 
cial Orders 313 must have been lost in the hurry 
and excitement of war preparations, for on Feb- 
ruary 25, 1862, Stager was appointed "JNIilitary 
superintendent of all telegraph-lines and offices 
in the LTnited States," and on April 8, 1862, we 
find that General Order 38 appoints him assist- 
ant quartermaster and military superintendent 
of telegraph-lines throughout the United States. 
Each of these orders placed all lines and 
employees under the control of the Secretary 
of War, and required commanding officers 
to "furnish rations and give all necessary aid to 
Colonel Stager and his assistants in the construc- 
tion, repair, and protection of military telegraph- 
lines." 

Stager from time to time appointed assist- 
ants, who were also given commissions in the 
Quartermaster's Department, to enable them 
to handle government property and cash. 
Major Eckert was Colonel Stager's principal 
assistant, in immediate charge of telegraph oper- 
ations at Washington and in the Department of 
the Potomac. Colonel Stager visited Washing- 
ton occasionally, but resided in Cleveland, and 
after October, 1863, he made that place his per- 

32 



n 

c 

O 
p. 









a 

•o 



3 






3 



& 



3 



n 







THE MILITARY TELEGRAPH CORPS 

manent headquarters and from that point di- 
rected the operations of the corps generally, 
giving particular attention to matters in the 
West and Southwest, his principal assistant in 
that section being Colonel Robert C. Clowry, 
who was stationed first at Little Rock and after- 
ward at St. Louis. On March 13, 1865, Clowry 
was appointed brevet lieutenant-colonel for 
"meritorious service and devoted application 
to duty," a characterization that all who know 
him consider well bestowed. For many years 
Colonel Clowry was vice-president, and he is now 
president, of the Western Union Telegraph 
Company. 

There was no government telegraph organiza- 
tion before the Civil War. In the month of 
April, 1861, the American Telegraph Company, 
whose lines reached Washington from the North, 
extended its wires to the War Department, Navy 
Yard, Arsenal, Chain-Bridge, and other outlying 
points. There was no appropriation to meet the 
expenses of a government telegraph service, and 
for six months or more Edwards S. Sanford, 
President of the American Telegraph Company, 
paid all the bills, aggregating thousands of dol- 
lars, for poles, wires, instruments, salaries of 

35 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

operators, etc. This was a generous and patriotic 
act on the part of Sanford, which was gratefully 
acknowledged by the President and Secretary 
Cameron and by the latter 's successor, Stanton. 
The American Telegraph Company was, of 
course, reimbursed later through an appropria- 
tion by Congress. 

Efforts have been made from time to time to 
have Congress pass an act giving us officially 
what we always claimed was our real status in 
the United States army, but not until thirty- 
two years after the war closed was even partial 
justice done. On January 26, 1897, President 
Cleveland approved an act authorizing and di- 
recting the Secretary of War to issue certificates 
of honorable service to all members of the United 
States Military Telegraph Corps, or to the repre- 
sentatives of deceased members. The act was 
carefully drawn, however, to exclude us from 
receiving pensions. The certificates issued to 
Richard O'Brien and the writer bear the date of 
entry into government service as of April 27, 
1861, which is the earliest shown on the War De- 
partment records. We have not yet received 
the honor of membership in the Grand Army of 
the Republic, although we are in fact honorably 

36 



THE MILITARY TELEGRAPH CORPS 

discharged members of the United States army, 
by virtue of the special act above specified which 
mention our corps by name/ 

^ Additional information relating to the Military Telegraph 
Corps may be found in the Appendix. See also William R. Plum's 
two volumes, "The Military Telegraph in the Civil War," and Sen- 
ate Document 251, 58th Cong., 2d Session. 



37 



Ill 

THE WAR DEPARTMENT TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

THE telegraph office in the War Department 
was first located in Chief Clerk Sander- 
son's room adjoining that of the Secretary of 
War, on the second floor of the building in the 
southeast corner. In May, 1861, it was trans- 
ferred to the entresol at the head of the first stair- 
way, where it remained until August, when it 
was moved to a room on the first floor, north 
front, to the east of the main entrance from Penn- 
sylvania Avenue. 

In October, 1861, the telegraph office was 
moved to the first floor room west of the rear 
entrance, opposite the Navy Department. The 
final change was made soon after the Monitor- 
Merriinac fight in March, 1862, when Secretary 
of War Stanton directed the office to be located 
in the old library room, on the second floor 
front, adjoining his own quarters, which con- 
sisted of three rooms, each having two win- 

38 



WAR DEPARTMENT TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

dows. The library room had five windows, and 
about one half of the floor space was taken up 
with alcoves containing many rare volumes of 
great value including among others a perfect 
elephant folio edition — of Audubon's^ "Birds 
of America." The alcove doors were securely 
locked, but the telegraph operators managed to 
obtain access to the books, from which we made 
selections for reading and study. It was in this 
old library— which Librarian Cheney tells me 
was founded in 1800 — that I first came across a 
copy of Roget's "Thesaurus," to which we there- 
after made frequent reference, especially during 
the time when Charles A. Dana, Assistant Secre- 
tary of War, was at Grant's and Rosecrans's 
headquarters, from each of which he sent long 
cipher-despatches containing words with mean- 
ings new and obscure to the telegraph boj^s. 

Not long after the instruments had been moved 
to the library room. Secretary Stanton gave up 
the adjoining room for the use of the cipher- 
operators. We remained in these quarters until 
after the close of the war. 

From January, 1862, when Stanton entered 
the cabinet, until the war ended, the telegraphic 

iPour volumes, size 25 x 39 inches, London imprint, 1827-1830. 

^ 39 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

reins of the Government were held b}'- a firm and 
skilful hand. Nicolay and Hay, in their "Abra- 
ham Lincoln," ^ say that Stanton "centered the 
telegraph in the War Department, where the 
publication of military news, which might pre- 
maturely reach the enemy, could be suf)ervised, 
and, if necessary, delayed," and that it was Lin- 
coln's practice to go informally to Stanton's office 
in times of great suspense during impending or 
actual battles, and "spend hour after hour with 
his War Secretary, where he could read the tele- 
grams as fast as they were received and handed in 
from the adjoining room." He did not always 
wait for them to be handed in, but made the 
cipher-room his rendezvous, keeping in close 
touch with the cipher-operators, often looking 
over our shoulders when he knew some specially 
important message was in course of translation. 

When in the telegraph office, Lincoln was most 
easy of access. He often talked with the cipher- 
operators, asking questions regarding the de- 
spatches which we were translating from or into 

'Vol. V, pp. 141-142. See also Vol. VI, p. 114: "His thoughts 
by day and anxiety by night fed upon the intelligence which the 
telegraph brought. ... It is safe to say that no general in the 
army studied his maps and scanned his telegrams with half the 
industry— and it may be added with half the intelligence— which 
Mr. Lincoln gave to his." 

40 



WAR DEPARTMENT TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

cipher, or which were filed in the order of receipt 
in the Httle drawer in our cipher-desk. 

Lincoln's habit was to go immediately to the 
drawer each time he came into our room, and 
read over the telegrams, beginning at the top, 
until he came to the one he had seen at his last 
previous visit. When this point was reached he 
almost always said, "Well, boys, I am down to 
raisins." After we had heard this curious remark 
a number of times, one of us ventured to ask him 
what it meant. He thereupon told us the story 
of the little girl who celebrated her birthday by 
eating very freety of many good things, topping 
off with raisins for dessert. During the night she 
was taken violently ill, and when the doctor ar- 
rived she was busy casting up her accounts. The 
genial doctor, scrutinizing the contents of the 
vessel, noticed some small black objects that had 
just appeared, and remarked to the anxious par- 
ent that all danger was past, as the child was 
"down to raisins." "So," Lincoln said, "when I 
reach the message in this pile which I saw on my 
last visit, I know that I need go no further." 

In the White House, Lincoln had little or no 
leisure, but was constantly under a severe strain 
from which, as he often told us, he obtained wel- 

41 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

come relief by his frequent visits to the telegraph 
office, which place was in fact his haven of rest, 
his Bethany. There only was he comparatively 
free from interruption and he would frequently 
remain for hours, and sometimes all night, await- 
ing news that might mean so much to the coun- 
try, and in the intervals of waiting he would 
write messages of inquiry, counsel and encour- 
agement to the generals in the field, to the gov- 
ernors of the loyal states and sometimes de- 
spatches announcing pardon or reprieve to sol- 
diers under sentence of death for desertion or 
sleeping on post. He almost lived in the tele- 
graph office when a battle was in progress, and 
on other occasions would drop in, as he sometimes 
jocosely remarked, to get rid of the pestering 
crowd of office-seekers. 

The War Department telegraph office was the 
scene of many vitally important conferences be- 
tween Lincoln and members of his cabinet, lead- 
ing generals, congressmen and others, who soon 
learned that when the President was not at the 
White House he could most likely be found in 
the telegraph office. 

The staff of the AVar Department telegraph 
office consisted at first of a few operators only, 

42 





o 

rt- 


O 
o 


^ 


U' 


o 


p 


ft 




-• 


< 




2 




^ 


«-•■ 


a> 


t— ' 










?: 


P 




3 


3 












^ 


te 


^ 






trq 






■1 


o 






n 




•c 

























3 






c 






(t 





en 
c 
■o 
ft 



o 

o 



2 O 
o 

3 



•O (I 

3 3 

'^ re 

00 » 

2 g 



1-9 

en 
•a 



3 

en 

Q 

3" 
o 
■-1 





WAR DEPARTMENT TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

our manager from May, 1861, to March, 1862, 
being William B. Wilson who in the service of 
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had opened 
on April 17, 1861, in Governor Curtin's office at 
Harrisburg the first military telegraph office on 
the continent. Later, in the Antietam and Get- 
tysburg campaigns, and during Early's raid, Wil- 
son rendered important scouting service, carrying 
with him a telegraph instrument which he utilized 
in sending reports over the wires by cutting in 
when opportunity offered. 

On March 29, 1903, the State of Pennsyl- 
vania awarded to Wilson a gold medal bear- 
ing this inscription: "In recognition of his 
Important and Delicate Service as Military 
Telegraph Operator and Scout during the 
Raids and Invasions into the State, 1862-3 
and 4." The same Act gave him a commission 
as colonel of Pennsylvania volunteers. Colonel 
Wilson is the only member of the Civil War 
Military Telegraph Corps who to-day holds 
a commission, all other officers in that corps hav- 
ing been mustered out after the close of the war. 

I succeeded manager Wilson in March, 1862, 
soon after Major Thomas T. Eckert was ap- 
pointed chief of the War Department telegraph 

45 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

staff, which office he held until August, 1866. I 
continued to hold the position of manager until 
the latter date, serving also as cipher-operator 
with Charles A. Tinker, Albert B. Chandler, 
George W. Baldwin, and Frank Stewart. Bald- 
win and Stewart died years ago. As the tele- 
graphic work increased the staff was enlarged, 
until at one time there were ten or twelve 
day and, as needs required, two or three night op- 
erators. It was not always an easy matter to pro- 
cure enough skilled telegraphers for the service, 
and whenever we learned of enlisted soldiers or 
drafted men who could telegraph we took imme- 
diate steps to secure an order from the Secretary 
of War detailing such men for our service. 

One instance, described in the following letter, 
will suffice to show at once our great need of 
operators and the method of speedy transfer to 
our corps : 

Pittsburgh, Pa., May 1, 1907. 
One day early in June, 1864, I was ordered to Wilming- 
ton, Delaware, on special duty for my Battery. While 
there I happened to meet Martin Buell, who had charge of 
the military telegraph-line down the Eastern shore leading 
to Fort Monroe. In a brief conversation he learned that I 
was a telegraph-operator and he remarked, "We need you 
in our service." How quickly this apparently casual re- 
mark bore fruit is shown by the following correspondence: 

46 



WAR DEPARTMENT TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

"Fort Delaware, June 7, 1864. 
"Mr. M. V. B. Buell, Wilmington. 

"Sir: If you design endeavoring to have J. W. Boyd of 
this command transferred elsewhere I would respectfully 
state that it will be impossible for me to spare him from 
here, he being a clerk in my office. 

"Very respectfull}', A. Schoef, Brig. Gen. Comdg." 

"War Department, A. G. 0., 
"Washington, D. C, June 8, 1864. 
"Special Orders 201. 

"... Private Joseph W. Boyd, Battery G, Independent 
Pennsylvania Artillery, now at Fort Delaware, Del., is 
hereby granted a furlough without pay or emoluments to 
enable him to enter the U. S. Military Telegraph Corps. 
He will be borne on his Company Rolls as on furlough and 
will report in person without delay for duty to Mr. M. V. 
B. Buell at Dover, Del. 

"The quartermaster will furnish the necessary trans- 
portation. 

"By order of the Secretary of War. 

"E. D. TowNSEND, Asst. Adjt. Genl." 

I served on this detail as military telegraph operator 
until September, 1865, but was mustered out with my Bat- 
tery on June 15, 1865. 

Joseph W. Boyd. 

All military telegraph despatches from or to 
Washington of necessity passed through the War 
Department office. The operators were fully 
occupied in the work of transmitting and receiv- 

47 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

ing these messages over the Avires, and the cipher- 
operators in translating the more important ones 
into and out of cij^her. There was no time to 
spare for the task of filing them away in an or- 
derly, careful manner, but the Government was 
fortunate in having the right man for such an 
important duty, and historians of the Civil War 
for all time will have cause to be grateful to 
Major Albert E. H. Johnson for his preliminary 
work toward the great array of volumes of the 
"Official Records" published by authority of 
Congress, which contain thousands of military 
telegrams all carefully filed by him. 

Johnson before the war w^as a clerk in 
Stanton's law office and came with him to the 
War Department as his private secretary in Jan- 
uary, 1862. He remained in that capacity, and 
as custodian of militarj^ telegrams, until Stanton 
left the cabinet in 1868. Over eighty years of 
age, he is still living in Washington, and to him 
the writer is indebted for authentic data concern- 
ing many of the incidents recorded herein. 



48 



IV 



CIPHEK-CODES AND MESSAGES 

ANSON STAGER was the author of the 
k- first Federal ciphers, which he devised for 
General McClellan's use in West Virginia, in the 
summer of 1861, before JMcClellan came to 
Washington. They were very simple, consisting 
merely of cards, about three inches by five, on 
which was printed a series of key-words and arbi- 
traries, the former indicating the number of lines 
and columns and the route or order in which the 
messages might be written, the arbitrary words 
being used to represent names of places and 
persons. When an important despatch was 
intrusted to a cipher-operator for transmission, 
he first rewrote it carefully in five, six, or seven 
columns, as the case might be, adding extra or 
blind words on the last line, if it was not full. 
A key-word was then selected to indicate the 
number of columns and lines and the order in 
which the words of the message were to be copied 
for transmission by wire. 

49 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

For instance, a certain key-word would repre- 
sent the combination of seven columns and 
eleven lines, and the route would be up the sixth 
cokmin, down the third, up the fifth, down the 
seventh, up the first, down the fourth, down the 
second. At the end of each column a blind word 
would be inserted, provided the code so directed, 
and at the end of the despatch one or more blind 
words might be added at the discretion of the 
cipher-operator, for the purpose of increasing the 
difficulty of translation by unauthorized persons. 
The key-word and the blind words would be 
discarded by the cipher-operator when translat- 
ing the despatch into English. The total number 
of words in a cipher-message in the above-men- 
tioned combination would be 7><12 + 1 = 85, pro- 
vided no extra words were added at the end, as 
above indicated. 

This somewhat crude but really effective 
method was improved upon from time to time by 
the War Dej^artment staff of cipher-operators. 

Mr. William R. Plum, in his history, "The 
Military Telegraph," Vol. I, p. 60, says: 

The Cipher System, originated by Anson Stager, and 
developed mainly by him, but in no small degree by others, 
more particularly T. T. Eckert, A. B. Chandler, D. 

50 



-3 




s- 




n 




? 


^ 


■s. 


p 

o 


3 


aj 






^ 


i." 


-^ 






a 






•< -t' 


o 

•-•5 


D. " 


3- 


•5' 5 


n 








r-(- 


2l 


1 o 




o 2 


S" 


■g 3 


crq 


Q 


T 


S ^ 


p 


rt- ^ 


•c 


? - 


3^ 


r^ C- 


?5' 


i- ' ^ 








P _:. 


M> 


-1 


•r 




> C 


i-S 


• << 


r. 


3 ft 


o 

n 


- 3 


r^ 


:;u 


IJl 


$ > 


n 




a" 


^ 2 


'< 






— . — 


rt- 


- i' 


=r 


(-f 2; 


rt 




3_ 


J-5 -- 


rt-' 


.^ 3 


rt 


"< — 


D. 


o 2: 


cn 




r-f- 


c '^ 


p 


-1 ;^ 


pi- 




m 


en 


>^ 


Q 


> ft 


o 


H 3 


< 


3 t 

?r 3 


n 
2 


r^ (-f 




"^ a: 


3 


^^ X 


a> 


^ 


D 


c- 


n- 


o 




< 

re 


5' 


^ 


QD 




Ol 




1— » 


3 




p 




& 




(I 






'> 



C5 

o 



^ S. c 



^^^^^iii^^^^ 






, V. y- .: 






.•Hi 



t z ^ *r 



'-< . "■-• 3 a^ : 






:\-'\^v:\ 



c-g. 



£/3 



v5 









?n]J3. 






5; "^ — r- ; 



'o *; ^ 7 J. : 



■■='-. r 



fN ^ : 



N 






\3 ^ 



b' t> 



.>-^«i/w>^ -^ v-i -1 ''^* -^.C^'^ 



X-z-n! 



-~,,^ :- - '^^^ 

:^^^ 






:V^^ 



'■«. .^ tr- •>• w^ .^ .-*>' C * '/^ . '^ ■>- , 



W> 






'■lv 















X' 












CIPHER-CODES AND MESSAGES 

Homer Bates and Charles A. Tinker^ was eminently 
successful. Copies of cipher messages quite often reached 
the enemy, and, some were published in their newspapers, 
with a general request for translation, but all to no purpose. 
To the statement that in no case did an enemy ever succeed 
in deciphering such messages, let us add that neither did 
any Federal cipher-operator ever prove recreant to his 
sacred trust, and we have, in a sentence, two facts that re- 
flect infinite credit upon the corps. 

It is not within the scope of this history to 
describe in detail the various cipher-codes used in 
the mihtary telegraph service during the Civil 
War, as Plum's history contains a full and 
accurate account, to which little can be added 
except in the way of incident. It will suf- 
fice here to say that from time to time the War 
Department staff issued successive printed edi- 
tions of this cipher-code, numbering twelve in all, 
in the form of a book of a size suitable for the 
pocket, containing at first sixteen printed pages, 
and in the last edition, forty-eight pages. The 
front part was taken up with key-words, in dif- 
ferent order and various combinations. The re- 
mainder of the book contained a series of printed 
arbitrary words opposite which, in each case, re- 
spectively, we wrote the name of a person, place, 
or short phrase most likely to be used in military 

despatches. 

53 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

To the President, cabinet officers, and leading 
generals two, three, and in some cases half a 
dozen arbitrary words were assigned, so that in 
any despatch prepared for transmission it would 
not be necessary to use a given word more than 
once. This precaution was also followed in the 
key-word section, several different words being 
set apart to represent each separate combination. 
Arbitrary words were also used to indicate the 
month, day, and hour of each cipher-message 
when ready for transmission. 

On page 55 is given one example from Plum's 
history which will suffice to show the general 
plan followed in all our cipher work. 

The combination selected was indicated by the 
key-word "Blonde" in No. 12 cipher, effec- 
tive at that time between the War Department 
and the Army of the Potomac, ex- Secretary 
Cameron being then on a visit to General Meade's 
headquarters, south of Gettysburg. 

This key- word "Blonde" indicated the combina- 
tion of columns, lines, and word route specified 
above. Following these directions, the despatch, 
when prepared for transmission by wire, was in 
this form: 

54 



CIPHER-CODES AND MESSAGES 























^ 






















P 






















CO 










rf 












3- 


o 


5^ 


^ 


"2- 




3 


n 

§ 


g 

Q 


OK! 


C^ 


5" 


3 


!» 


B5 


3 


p 


<1 


'^ 


O 




^ 


t« 


en 

01 


3 


IQ 


3 


p- 

01 


O 


^ 


3 

n 


W 


» 








o 




O 








c 




f-f- 


ri- 


o 


c 


CO 


o 


3 


3 


«-l 


13 

65 


5' 




ce 


<: 


3 
3 


5' 


3 
3 


3 
o 
3' 


3^ 


'< 


n 








53 




p 
















<-)■ 
















o 

B 
3 


o 

3 


3 


1—' 


3- 

?5 

< 


r1- 

3- 


o 

3 


O 


n 

p 

3 
3 


3^ 


rl- 


» 






(^ 
►^ 






tj 








03 

ciq' 




o 

05 


«i 


o 
c 


VI 
<' 

3 


P 

ci- 


o 
o 

3 

3 


i-S 
Oi 

<; 
P- 


O 




00 


> 




o 


















• 


o 


s 




3 
O 






en 


o 


►13 




^, 


o 


g 


V! 


o 

3 


o 


3 


i-^j 




Q 


5' 

o 
o 


3 


3 


O 

c 




I—' 
ri- 


(-1- 

3- 

n 


1-2. 
O 
P- 


O 


3 




1 


































M» 






















3 








o 


3- 
O 


3 
O 


3s 

el- 


rl- 

O 


crq 

n- 


ta 
3 
P- 


-a 
n> 

CO 
CO 


l-H 


W 










•c 








c-l- 


^ 




tr 


P 
►1 


^ 


^ 




CKJ 


t-f 


P 


3- 


o 






95 


o 


o 


ci- 


CO 


'—' 


P 
cl- 


3 



CO 

as 
o 

o 

O 
M 
Z 

H 

> 

r 

>o 
r 
> 
:z 

o 
r 
r 
O 
^ 

H 
3 



> 

►a 

"3 
O 

r 



> 

H 
C- 
H 
O 
P8 
>• 
13 

K 
o 

X 
93 

:^ 

O 



55 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Washington, D. C, July 15, 1863. 

A. H. Caldwell, Cipher-operator, 
Gen. Meade's Headquarters: 

Blonde bless of who no optic to get an impression I 
madison square Brown cammer Toby ax the have turnip me 
Harry bitch rustle silk adrian counsel locust you another 
only of children serenade flea Knox county for wood that 
awl ties get hound who was war him suicide on for was 
please village large bat Bunyan give sigh incubus heavy 
Norris on trammeled cat knit striven without if Madrid 
quail upright martyr Stewart man much bear since ass 
skeleton tell the oppressing Tyler monkey. 

Bates. 

Total, eighty-five words. 

By comparing the two copies one may discover 
the several arbitrary words used to represent 
names of persons, places, dates, words and 
phrases. The blind words may also be readily 
found. 

Captain Samuel H. Beckwith, General Grant's 
cipher-operator during his four campaigns, was 
an expert with the pen, as will be seen from the 
specimen of his work shown by the facsimile of 
two pages of his cipher-book, which is truly a 
work of art. It was his habit all through the war 
to recopy with a pen the contents of each new 
edition of our cipher-book as fast as supplied to 
him, and his written copy would be so embellished 

56 



CIPHER-CODES AND MESSAGES 

with extraneous matter as to make it not only 
attractive from a chirographical point of view, 



■ 


wim 






Y{ 


Wi. ■ 










>V«/.,, '■. 


■ '() T/urn/flfi VO in/ r 




" 


', 


//. 


■■"■,/ ' .'/"'»,■■'■■'-'■ 




/ ' ■ ■ 


/ ,_, . 






t\ 






^. 









"' 


■/< . 




7" 


'/'fj/'hij'n ifi 


/ 


/ / nr'o'/ 


'' ■ ■ ■ 


/ s.-/r.-/ 



Hi 






r 






/ >4: r 






X il'f'fj 'M 



-:, V J >: 



Facsimile of two pages of the last cipher-book in the War 

Department series, printed for the first time in 

"Century Magazine " for June, 1907 

The original is in the handwriting of Captain Samuel H. Beckwith, General 

Grant's cipher-operator, and was used in transmitting Lincoln's 

telegrams to and from City Point and Richmond, 

March 25 to April 8, 1S05 

but also wholly unintelligible to any one but a 
shrewd cipher-operator. By the use of ink of 

57 




LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

various colors he combined two or three different 
codes in one book. 

The one from which these two pages were 
taken was the last in the War Department series, 
having been sent to Beckwith on March 23, 1865, 
and it was this cipher that he used for Lincoln's 
despatches during his two weeks' stay at City 
Point and Richmond, March 25 to April 8, 1865, 
after which time none of the President's tele- 
grams was put in cipher. For this reason Beck- 
with's cipher-book is of historic interest. 

During Burnside's Fredericksburg campaign 
at the end of 1862, the War Department oper- 
ators discovered indications of an interloper on 
the wire leading to his headquarters at Aquia 
Creek. These indications consisted of an occa- 
sional irregular opening and closing of the circuit 
and once in a while strange signals, evidently 
not made by our own operators. It is proper 
to note that the characteristics of each Morse 
operator's sending are just as pronounced and as 
easily recognized as those of ordinary handwrit- 
ing, so that when a message is transmitted over 
a wire, the identity of the sender may readily be 
known to any other operator within hearing who 
has ever worked with him. A somewhat similar 

58 



CIPHER-CODES AND MESSAGES 

means of personal identification occurs every day 
in the use of the telephone. 

At the time referred to, therefore, we were 
certain that our wire had been tapped. In 
some way or other the Confederate operator 
learned that we were aware of his pres- 
ence, and he then informed us that he was from 
Lee's army and had been on our wire for sev- 
eral days, and that, having learned all that he 
wanted to know, he was then about to cut out 
and run. We gossiped with him for a while and 
then ceased to hear his signals and believed that 
he had gone. 

We had taken measures, however, to dis- 
cover his whereabouts by sending out linemen 
to patrol the line; but his tracks were well con- 
cealed, and it was only after the intruder had left 
that we found the place where our wire had been 
tapped. He had made the secret connection by 
means of fine silk-covered magnet wire, in such a 
manner as to conceal the joint almost entirely. 
Meantime, Burnside's cipher-operator was tempo- 
rarily absent from his post, and we had recourse 
to a crude plan for concealing the text of telegrams 
to the Army of the Potomac, which we had fol- 
lowed on other somewhat similar occasions when 

* 59 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

we believed the addressee or operator at the dis- 
tant jDomt ( not provided with the cipher-key) was 
particularly keen and alert. This plan consisted 
primarily of sending the message backward, the 
individual words being misspelled and otherwise 
garbled. We had practised on one or two de- 
spatches to Burnside before the Confederate oper- 
ator was discovered to be on the wire, and were 
pleased to get his prompt answers, couched also 
in similar outlandish language, which was, how- 
ever, intelligible to us after a short study of the 
text in each case. Burnside and ourselves soon 
became quite expert in this home-made cipher 
game, as we all strove hard to clothe the de- 
spatches in strange, uncouth garb. 

In order to deceive the Confederate oper- 
ator, however, we sent to Burnside a number 
of cipher messages, easy of translation, and which 
contained all sorts of bogus information for the 
purpose of misleading the enemy. Burnside or 
his operator at once surmised our purpose, and 
the general thereupon sent us in reply a lot of bald- 
erdash also calculated to deceive the uninitiated. 

It was about this time that the following spe- 
cially important despatch from Lincoln was filed 
for transmission : 

60 



CIPHER-CODES AND MESSAGES 

Executive Mansion, Washington, 
November 25, 1862. 11:30 a.m. 

Major-General Burnside, Falmouth, Virginia: If I 
should be in boat off Aquia Creek at dark to-morrow 
(Wednesday) evening, could you, vrithout inconvenience, 
meet me and pass an hour or two with me? A. Lincoln. 

Although the Confederate operator had said 
good-by several days before, we were not sure 
he had actually left. We therefore put 
Lincoln's telegram in our home-made cipher, 
so that if the foreign operator were still 
on our wire, the message might not be 
readily made out by the enemy. At the same 
time extra precautions were taken by the Wash- 
ington authorities to guard against any accident 
to the President while on his visit to Burn- 
side. No record is now found of the actual 
text of this cipher-despatch, as finally prepared 
for transmission, but going back over it word for 
word, I believe the following is so nearly like it 
as to be called a true copy : 

Washington, D. C, November 25, 1862. 

Burnside, Falmouth, Virginia: Can Inn Ale me withe 2 oar 
our Ann pas Ann me flesh ends N. V. Corn Inn out with U 
cud Inn heaven day nest Wed roe Moore Tom darkey hat 
Greek Why Hawk of Abbott Inn B chewed I if. Bates. 

61 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

By reading the above backward, observing the 
phonetics, and bearing in mind that flesh is the 
equivalent of meat, the real meaning is easily 
found. It cannot be said that this specimen ex- 
hibits specially clever work on the part of the War 
Department staff, nor is it likely that the Confed- 
erate operator, if he overheard its transmission, 
had much trouble in unraveling its meaning. As 
to this we can only conjecture. 

Burnside readily translated this cryptogram, if 
it may be dignified with so high-sounding a name, 
and replied in similar gibberish that he would 
meet Lincoln at the place and time specified. At 
that meeting on the steamer Baltimore was dis- 
cussed the plan of a movement against Lee's 
intrenchments which was made three weeks 
later, and which resulted in our army being 
repulsed with the loss of many thousands of 
lives. 

Another instance may be referred to in which 
a telegram from Lincoln was put into crude 
cipher form of the sort described above. On his 
last visit to the army he wrote a despatch to the 
Secretary of War, which Grant's cipher-operator 
did not put in our regular cipher, but, instead, 
transmitted in the following form: 

62 



CIPHER-CODES AND MESSAGES 

City Point, Va., 8:30 a.m., April 3, 1865. 
Tinker, War Department: A Lincoln its in fume a in 
hymn to start I army treating there possible if of cut too 
forward pushing is He is so all Richmond aimt confide is 
Andy evacuated Petersburg reports Grant morning this 
Washington Secretary War. Beckwith. 

The probable reason for adopting this crude form 
was to insure its reaching its destination without 
attracting the special attention of watchful oper- 
ators on the route of the City Point- Washington 
wire, because at that crisis every one was on the 
qui live for news from Grant's advancing army, 
and if the message had been sent in plain lan- 
guage, the important information it conveyed 
might have been overheard in its transmission 
and perhaps would have reached the general pub- 
lic in advance of its receipt by the War Depart- 
ment. 

It is not necessary to give the translation of 
this cipher-message. To use a homely term, 
"Any one can read it with his eyes shut." In fact, 
the easiest way would be for one to shut the eyes 
and let some one else read it backward, not too 
slowly. The real wording then becomes plain. 

An earlier cipher-despatch with which Lincoln 
had to do during his visit to City Point, was from 
Sheridan to Grant, about March 26, 1865. Sheri- 

63 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

dan, with his entire cavalry command, was finish- 
ing up his great raid from the Shenandoah Val- 
ley to join Grant's army on the James, his special 
object being to cut the railroad and canal to the 
west of Richmond and then strike to the north 
for the Pamunkey at White House. By the time 
he reached that point his horses would be in great 
need of forage and new shoes. Accordingly, 
Sheridan wrote a long despatch to Grant, telling 
him just when to expect him at White House, 
and asking him to direct General Ingalls, quar- 
termaster, to meet him with plenty of forage for 
men and horses, as well as horse-shoers with their 
kits. Sheridan then selected three of his best 
scouts, each taking a different route, one south of 
Richmond, one directly through that city, and the 
third to the north of Lee's army. Each man had 
a copy of the despatch to Grant, which Sheridan's 
expert cipher-operator, McCaine, had written in 
small but legible characters on tissue-paper. The 
copy was then rolled up, incased in tin-foil, and 
secreted on the scout's person, in one instance 
resting in front of his upper teeth. 

Lincoln, with Mrs. Lincoln and Tad, had just 
reached City Point from Washington. The party 
had been supplied with tents close to the tele- 

64 



CIPHER-CODES AND MESSAGES 

graph office. Beckwith — Grant's cipher-operator 
— told the writer in November, 1906, that a few 
days after the President's arrival at Grant's head- 
quarters, the flap of the telegraph tent was slowly 
turned back and there appeared at the opening a 
tall, slim, long-haired, typical Virginian, who 
quietly entered, and closed the flap, asking the 
only other occupant of the tent if his name was 
Beckwith. Upon receiving an affirmative an- 
swer, the stranger, who was dressed in butternut 
clothing, soiled and worn and incredibly dusty, 
withovit further word took a small, round, tin- 
foil-covered roll from his person and handed it to 
Beckwith with the single word, "McCaine." 

Beckwith grasped the meaning at once, and 
thinking to give the messenger a little pleasure in 
return for his faithful service, said: "You have 
risked your life in the cause. Would you not like 
to deliver this document direct to President Lin- 
coln, who is now in the next tent?" The scout's 
eyes lighted up and he nodded assent. Beckwith 
then went into Lincoln's tent and told him there 
was a man in the telegraph office who had brought 
a cipher-despatch from Sheridan, and he thought 
it would be pleasant to have him deliver it direct 
to the President. Lincoln took in the situation, 

65 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

and returning with Beckwith to the other tent, 
greeted the scout pleasantly. The latter then 
handed the cipher-roll to the President, who 
slowly and carefully unwound it and pressing out 
the tissue-sheet, glanced at it long enough to see 
that the despatch was in cipher. He then passed 
it over to Beckwith, remarking to the scout that 
he guessed this young man would have to do 
some work on it before it would be of any use. 

The President then asked about Sheridan's 
whereabouts, and the route taken by the scout. 
The latter told where he had last seen Sheridan 
when he received the little packet, and added that 
he was a native Virginian, and had been able to 
come through the city of Richmond without de- 
tection. After some further conversation and an 
expression of thanks from the President, the 
scout backed out of the tent and disappeared for- 
ever, so far as Beckwith knew. The other two 
scouts were never heard from, and were probably 
captured by the enemy. Sheridan's despatch 
was most welcome to Lincoln and Grant, and 
20,000 horseshoes and other much-needed sup- 
plies were soon on their way to the Pamunkey. 

A few days later, Sheridan, with his chief of 
staff. Captain Forsyth, rode over from White 

66 



CIPHER-CODES AND MESSAGES 

House to City Point. Robert Lincoln informed 
his father, who was on the River Queen, that 
"Little Phil" had arrived. The President has- 
tened ashore and went to Colonel Bowers's tent to 
express his personal congratulations to Sheridan, 
which he did in the most sincere and graceful 
manner, winding up with this remark: "General 
Sheridan, when this peculiar war began I thought 
a cavalryman should be at least six feet four 
high; but" — still holding Sheridan's hand in 
his earnest grasp and looking down upon the 
little general — "I have changed my mind — 
five feet four will do on a pinch." Sheridan 
measured five feet four and a half, and at this 
time weighed only one hundred and forty-one 
pounds on the ground; but in the saddle "he 
weighed a ton," as his soldiers were wont to say. 
At the meeting with Lincoln he appeared without 
sword, sash, belt, or epaulets, and with his old 
brown slouch-hat in his hand. 



67 



CONFEDERATE CIPHER-CODES AND INTERCEPTED 

DESPATCHES 

LINCOLN took a personal interest in our 
^ translation of the enemy's cipher-despatches, 
intercepted and brought to the War Depart- 
ment for translation, and whenever he saw the 
three of us with our heads together he knew that 
we had something on hand of special interest. 
At such times his anxiety would lead him to ask 
whether there was anything of importance com- 
ing through the mill. One of these occasions was 
in 1863, during the siege of Vicksburg. General 
Grant's scouts had captured several cipher-de- 
spatches from General Joe Johnston, addressed 
to General Pemberton. The letter inclosing one 
of them is as follows : 

Headquarters Department of the Tennessee, 

Near Vicksburg, May 25, 1863. 

Col. J. C. Kelton, Assistant Adjutant-General,, 
Washington, D. C. 

Colonel: Eight men, with 200,000 percussion caps, were 
arrested whilst attempting to get through our lines into 

68 



CONFEDERATE CIPHER-CODES 

Vicksburg. The inclosed cipher was found upon them. Hav- 
ing no one with me who has the ingenuity to translate it, I 
send it to Washington, hoping that some one there may be 
able to make it out. Should the meaning of this cipher be 
made out, I request a copy be sent to me. 
Very respectfully, 

U. S. Grant, Major-General. 

INCLOSURE 

Jackson, May 25, 1863. 

Lieutenant General Pemberton : My XAFV. USLX 
was V V U F L S J P by the B R C Y A (I) J 200 000 V E 
G T. S U A J. N E R P. Z I F M. It will be G F O E 
C S Z O (Q) D as they N T Y M N X. Bragg M J T P H 
I N Z G a Q R (K) C M K B S E. When it D Z G J X. 
I will Y O I G. AS. Q H Y. N I T W M do you Y T I 
A M the I I K M. V F V E Y. How and where is the 
JSQMLGUGSFTVE. HBFYis your 
R O E E L. J. E. Johnston. 

When Grant's communication reached Wash- 
ington, nearly a week after its date, it was turned 
over to the cipher-operators, who soon translated 
it almost verbatim, as follows : 

Jackson, May 25, 1863, 
Lieutenant-General Pemberton, Vicksburg: My 



was captured by the picket. 200,000 caps have been sent. 
It will be increased as they arrive. Bragg is sending a 
division. When it joins I will come to you. What do you 
think the best route } How and where is the enemy operat- 
ing? What is your force? J. E. Johnston. 

69 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

At various other times our troops intercepted de- 
spatches, sent from one Confederate general to 
another, containing important information in ci- 
pher. As a rule, we were able to translate these 
ciphers after more or less labor. They were gen- 
erally ordinary letter ciphers, the letters of the al- 
phabet being transposed in various ways. For 
instance, the foregoing despatch from General 
Johnston of May 25, was put into a cipher the 
key-words of which were "Manchester BluiF." 
In arranging the message, Johnston wrote it out 
with the letters well spaced, and then on a line 
above he wrote in order the letters forming 
the key-words "Manchester Bluff," repeating 
them as often as necessary to the end of his real 
message. Then, by means of an alj^habet square, 
he found one by one the cipher letter for each real 
letter, thus : beginning with the first letter of the 
key-word, "M," on the top line of the alphabet 
square, he ran down the "M" column until he 
came to the first letter of his real message, then 
turning to the left or right, as prearranged, he 
found the end letter (in the A or Z column of 
that line) , and took that end letter as the first for 
his cipher-despatch ; and so on until all the letters 
had thus been couched in cipher. The reverse 

70 



CONFEDERATE CIPHER-CODES 

method would, of course, be followed by the ad- 
dressee. 

In translating Johnston's despatch we did not 
have the key-word to guide us, but guessed at the 
meaning, trying first one w^ord and then another 
until by analogy we had worked out the entire 
message. In 1884 the War Records Office pub- 
lished our translation, together with a true copy 
of the despatch in connection with the key-words 
as above. ^ The official copy is the same as our 
translation, with two or three slight differences. 

In other cases the Confederates did not use the 
alphabet square, with a key-word, but adopted the 
"Slater" code method of going ahead or back in 
the regular alphabet a certain number of letters, 
as prearranged. This latter plan was followed 
by Johnston in another despatch to Pemberton, 
dated June 30, 1863, only four days before the 
surrender of Vicksburg, which was captured by 
Grant's scouts on the day of its date, and deci- 
phered by Michael Mason of Waterhouse's Chi- 
cago Battery. My records do not show the par- 
ticular code used in preparing this despatch. 

On December 21, 1863, the War Department 
cipher-operators were called upon to unravel a 

^See "Official Records," Vol. XXIV. Part 1, pp. 39-40. 

71 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Confederate cipher-letter written in New York 
City by a man named J. H. Cammack, and in- 
closed in an envelop addressed to Alex. Keith, 
Jr., Halifax, Nova Scotia. It had been dropped 
in the post-office at New York, and intercepted 
and forwarded to the War Department by the 
postmaster, Abram Wakeman, who had been 
instructed by the authorities to keep a sharp 
lookout for communications addressed to Keith. 
The despatch itself, when we had translated it, 
was found to be intended for Judah P. Benja- 
min, Confederate Secretary of State, Richmond, 
Virginia. This cipher ( see facsimile on page 73 ) 
was wholly unlike any we had ever been called 
upon to translate, and the "Sacred Three" puz- 
zled their brains for hours before they succeeded 
in making full sense out of the jargon, while the 
President hovered about us, anxious to know the 
sequel of our united cogitations. A few days 
later a second cipher despatch, also inclosed in 
an envelop bearing Keith's address as above, was 
intercepted and forwarded to Washington. This 
one was dated New York, December 22, 1863, and 
bore on the inside in cipher characters the ad- 
dress of Benjamin H. Hill, Secretary of War, 
Richmond. It was also quickly deciphered, and 

72 



CONFEDERATE CIPHER-CODES 

j_\ c©) -— X -P ^ = , tJo-J>a>,n-><.L->. - ^w. 

< A C - j^ |-|. ./ <@ Q. .^ «,^ _j ...^ .. n< T — ^ , cp- « -1^ ^ 

OO --— ^ .... £) n> >ZJ^ Z^^/^, • 0-- ^^ (/^=:-F- -^, 

J (^w-(P^^,-nvyf^<i>u.j£, uxmT>c,— /- •• — ,- — /-K , 

K — A, X K21, Gxc^ic.ca'; IC: O©^ ^ <,f;^ — 

•J - o zc A^*;, ^ ^ (2>® ^.ji^.^-^ oss^,^^,-/. , 

-/'°" •-'■'" , '^^ ,— K OO . . , — I -K, -o..— .>^ 

i^T<>D,<a D •>z) :3,A> >Ea->, ^vru, ^.^^\^^ 

M<rvL.- 'l4Ja4g.i^/?y//l///>5]f^- = ^,.= - ®<5^, -f^ -7-^^, 

3 nronn, <n<, a >/\3'3, a>A<, <i§)<Q cd<S> m, 

= / -I, ^. 

Facsimile of a Confederate cipher-letter 

This letter was dropped in the post-office at New York, December 18, 1863, 
addressed to Alex. Keith, Jr., Halifax, N. S. It was sent by the New York 
postmaster, Abram Wakeman, to the War Department where it was quickly 
translated by the cipher-operators — Tinker, Bates and Chandler — without the 
aid of the cipher-key, a copy of which will be found on page 77 

proved to be even more important than the first 
one. The translations of the two despatches, ac- 
cording to the record in my war diary, were as 
follows : 

73 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

N. Y., Dec. 18, 1863. 
Hon. J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of State, Richmond, Va. : 

Willis is here. The two steamer,s will leave here about 
Christmas. Lamar and Bowers left here via Bermuda two 
weeks ago. 12000 rifled muskets came duly to hand and 
were shipped to Halifax as instructed. 

We will be able to seize the other two steamers as per 
programme. Trowbridge has followed the President's 
orders. We will have Briggs under arrest before this 
i-eaches you. Cost $2000. We want more money. How 
shall we draw. Bills all forwarded to Slidell and rects reed. 
Write as before. 

J. H. C. 

The second cipher was prepared in the same way 
as the first, and its translation is as follows : 

Nerv Yorlc, Dec, 22, 1863. 
Hon. Benj. H. Hill, Richmond, Va. 

Dear Sir: Say to Memminger that Hilton will have 
the machines all finished and dies all cut ready for ship- 
ping by the first of January. The engraving of the plates 
is superb. 

They will be shipped via Halifax and all according to 
instructions. 

The main part of the work has been under the immediate 
supervision of Hilton, who will act in good faith in conse- 
quence of the large amount he has and will receive. The 
work is beautifully done and the paper is superb. A part 
has been shipped and balance will be forwarded in a few 
days. 

Send some one to Nassau to receive and take the machines 
and paper through Florida. Write me at Halifax. I leave 

74 



CONFEDERATE CIPHER-CODES 

first week in January. Should Goodman arrive at Nassau 

please send word by your agent that he is to await further 

instructions. 

Yours truly, 

J. H. C.i 

The man Cammack, who signed the two cipher- 
letters, made use of six different sets or alphabets 
of cryptograms, but made the error — fatal to his 
purpose — of confining himself, as to any given 
word, to one particular code or alphabet, instead 
of using the six sets of hieroglyphics inter- 
changeably. 

Our fortunate and prompt translation of the 
first of these two important despatches resulted in 
an immediate visit of Assistant Secretary Dana to 
New York for conference with General Dix, with 
the result that in less than a week six or eight of 
the conspirators were arrested, and a quantity of 
arms and ammunition seized, which had been 
packed in hogsheads ostensibly containing pro- 
visions, and which the cipher-despatches indicated 
were meant to be shipped on Atlantic liners, a 
number of the conspirators taking passage at the 
same time, their intention being to suddenly over- 
power the crew after sailing, and then use the 

^ A more detailed account of these two cipher-despatches ap- 
peared in "Harper's Magazine" for June, 1898. 

5 75 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

vessel as a privateer or run the blockade with the 
cargo into a Southern port. 

When Richmond fell into our hands in April, 
1865, Assistant Secretary of War Charles A. 
Dana found among the Confederate archives, in 
addition to the alphabet square code used by- 
Booth, referred to in the latter part of this chap- 
ter, a more complicated cipher-code identical with 
the key in the hands of Cammack, the Confed- 
erate agent in New York, and which was used by 
him in his two letters of December 18 and 22, 
1863, above referred to. A facsimile of the code 
is shown on page 77. This code was also used 
between Canada and Richmond for important 
despatches from and to Jacob Thompson and his 
associates, notably the despatch hereinafter re- 
ferred to, dated October 13, 1864, from Thomp- 
son to Davis, and the latter 's reply of October 19. 
The War Department operators, however, man- 
aged to decipher all these despatches without the 
aid of an official key. 

My colleague, Mr. Tinker, has recently shown 
me a letter which he wrote to his mother on De- 
cember 27, 1863, giving an account of the 
translation of the two Confederate cipher-de- 

76 



CONFEDERATE CIPHER-CODES 



o ? ^' 

= ?r 2. 



5 3 2 

V. 3 < ^ 



fD - 

" =^ ^C 

2. CI. r^' r^ 

O » ^ 

n- o — t« 

P 3 S C 

=> o _-S 

o 2 S _ . 

— ;; 'B 3 

n ~ f r* 

n 3 ,K- rt 



rti 



T 3 T 

_ P — -5 
I* c ' n 

^'< . " 

3 i • O 

< 3 ■o -^r 

r, - ■» ■$. 



O 
o 

3 
P 

CD 

P 
(-1- 

o 

p 



3 « *- 3- 
_. '^ » re 

3 — 3 _ 

S. 3 ' "> 

2." S.-^ 



o 

3 
o 

3 



p 

en 

i". 

o 

r(- 

3- 

O 
o 

3 

ft 

fH 

P 

rf 

rt) 
2 
•5^ 

o 
D- 



? rt p: 

r* 3 O 

p 3 

-S 2. 

re O a: 



£ 
3 

a- 
o 

3 



o — 



3> f' 
<-(■ 



n> 



3 



O 

P 



B 



p 



rt-Ctq ■^ 

? --^ 
tt. 3 3- 

o crq (^ 

3* ^^ O 
Oi rt- 3 

7 3- S" 
o re 5 

re <^ £? 

P 2 =" 

?>< 

— ■ ri- Q 
3 '-/J S 



p n 



3 

"< g 

SI 

p 



re 



P 

3 

5 



S 3-3 

S-0 £ 

I? ><; 5, 

r^'2. P 

5" -• p 

2 O 3 



3= 

•-! 

3 
3 






3- 
P 

m 

O 



3- 



* 








_> "X 


:> A' 


-.6. r^ 


1 


A b 


■r6 ) 


• 
1 






1 


; .< Qi 






• < '.^' 


'■ i 


■fc 


■•^■s 




. T 






^ 


^>i 


.; ^n +. 




. -J '^ 


V Q. ^ 


'■' ^, 


1 j^ 






77 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

spatches of December 18 and 22, 1863, from 

which the following extract is taken : 

« 

On December 21, after we had worked out the first rebel 
cipher-letter, it was found to be of such importance that a 
special cabinet meeting was called, and Asst. -Secretary of 
War, Chas. A. Dana, was sent by night train to New York 
to find and arrest the conspirators, which was soon accom- 
plished. On December 24, the second rebel cipher was 
translated by us and proved to be almost as important as 
the first one. Secretary Stanton told Major Eckert he 
would n't give his cipher-operators for the whole clerical 
force of the Government. Asst. -Secretary of War Watson 
came into the cipher-room and congratulated us in person 
upon our mysterious success. He said he would like to 
make us a Christmas gift, but could not do so because there 
was no appropriation for such a purpose. He said, how- 
ever, that the three of us who translated the Cammack- 
Keith ciphers would receive an increase in our pay from 
December 1. 



In order to keep itself informed upon political 
and military matters in the North, the Confed- 
erate government employed agents, with head- 
quarters in Canada, who maintained secret com- 
munication with Richmond, chiefly by means of 
spies, who went through our lines to and fro in 
the performance of their very dangerous task. 
One of these messengers was also in the service 
of our Government, and as he passed through 

78 



CONFEDERATE CIPHER-CODES 

Washington on his way north or south, he found 
it necessary on each occasion to rest and recuper- 
ate for a few hours, during which interval he 
would communicate with INIajor Eckert, and al- 
low him to inspect his budget, which was always 
in cipher, and which, on his northward trip, was 
usually addressed to Jacob Thompson, one of the 
Confederate agents at Clifton, Ontario. Two 
extracts from my war diary will suffice to show 
the situation: 

Sunday, October 16, 1864. 

A rebel cipher, dated Clifton, Canada, October 13, was 
brought to the War Department to-day from Jake Thomp- 
son in Canada, addressed to Jeff Davis, Richmond. 

Thompson says that Washington is sufficiently garrisoned 
to resist any attack until reinforced; that the re-election 
of Lincoln is almost certain and he urges upon Davis the 
necessity for the South gaining advantages over the North- 
ern armies. 

Sunday, October 23, 1864. 

The rebel cipher intercepted on October l6th has been 
to Richmond and a reply from Jeff Davis, dated October 
19, returned, the carrier very kindly traveling via Wash- 
ington and allowing us to make a copy of his precious docu- 
ment. Davis says Longstreet will soon attack Sheridan 
and then move north as far as practicable, toward unpro- 
tected points. 

79 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

(Note — This was done last Wednesday, but instead of 
moving north, the enemy was compelled to retreat south.) 

Davis adds that a blow will soon be struck near Richmond 
on Grant's army, that it is not quite time.^ 

The movement by the enemy promised by Da- 
vis was at first successful, our army being forced 
back, losing many guns, with "Sheridan twenty 
miles away," on his return from a visit to Wash- 
ington. A special train hurried him to the front, 
and he then made that John Gilpin ride cele- 
brated by T. Buchanan Read in his stirring 
poem, and the reorganized Union forces routed 
the enemy, commanded by Jubal Early. 

As stated in my diary, these two cipher-de- 
spatches were promptly translated by the War 
Department cipher-operators, and their contents 
proved of much interest to Lincoln, who always 
kept close tally on the movements, to and fro, of 
this messenger, who must have been possessed of 
great courage, intelligence, and ability, to have 
secured and held such a responsible and confiden- 
tial position with both governments. 

One of the later Confederate cipher-de- 
spatches was from Clement C. Clay, one of 

1 Copies verbatim of the two despatches referred to may be 
found on page 42 of the "Trial of the Conspirators," compiled by 
Pitman. 

80 



CONFEDERATE CIPHER-CODES 

Thompson's associates in Canada, and the ac- 
commodating messenger, as usual, allowed us 
to take a copy. It was addressed to Judah 
P. Benjamin, Secretary of State, Richmond, 
and was promptly translated by us. It showed 
clearly that the Confederate agents were using 
Canada as a rendezvous for raids into border 
towns and that the Canadian government offi- 
cials were favoring these movements; at least 
secretly. Secretary Stanton directed the spy 
to be brought, and asked him one question only. 
Major Johnson, Stanton's confidential secretary, 
says he did not hear what that question was, but 
it was short, and when the man answered, in as 
brief a manner, the Secretary dismissed him, and 
turning to President Lincoln, said we should by 
all means retain the original document signed by 
Clay, for use as evidence in support of our de- 
mand upon Great Britain for heavy damages 
sustained by us, in consequence of the ready asy- 
lum that country was affording our enemies. 

This occurred on a Sunday, and the President 
had come direct from Dr. Gurley's Presbyterian 
Church, where he had a pew, to the War Depart- 
ment, for conference over the matter. Stanton 
was for taking instant action and witliholding 

81 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Clay's despatch; but Assistant Secretary Dana 
said we had better not break this important hne 
of communication, as we should do if we failed to 
allow the spy to carry the despatch to Richmond. 

Lincoln, however, suggested a plan whereby 
two birds might be killed with one stone. He 
said : "Why not allow the messenger to depart as 
usual, and then capture him in Virginia some- 
where, take the despatch from him, clap him in 
prison, and afterward let him escape?" This 
simple plan was adopted, and General Augur 
was directed to look out for a Confederate mes- 
senger on a certain road that night. The man 
was captured, his papers were seized, and he 
was put in old Capitol Prison, from which he 
soon escaped after being fired on and wounded 
by the guard. A reward for his recapture was 
widely advertised in the newspapers, and when 
he reported back to Clay and Thompson, glibly 
telling his story and showing his wounds, his 
word was credited, and he resumed his double 
service, trusted even more fully than before. 

The identity of this messenger was disclosed 
to the public on the trial of Mrs. Surratt, in May, 
1865, when a certain witness gave evidence 
against the conspirators, serving to show the 

82 



CONFEDERATE CIPHER-CODES 

great value placed by the Richmond government 
upon the services of Clay and Thompson in 
Canada, who were concerned in the scheme for 
setting fire to certain Northern cities, and also, it 
was believed, in the conspiracy to kidnap Lincoln. 

Apropos of secret despatches carried through 
the lines, John H. Surratt, then about twenty 
years old, acted as a Confederate spy traveling 
between Washington and the enemy's boats on 
the lower Potomac, carrying his despatches 
"sometimes in the heel of his boots and sometimes 
between the planks of a buggy." 

In the waistcoat pocket of John Wilkes Booth, 
when his body was searched after he was shot, 
was found a copy of an alphabet square exactly 
like the one used by Johnston and other South- 
ern generals, and another copy was found in his 
trunk at the National Hotel, Washington, where 
he last roomed before the tragedy. In my war 
diary is this entry: 

May 20, 1865. 
I was subpoenaed to-day as a witness in the trial of Mrs. 
Surratt, Payne, Atzerodt, and other conspirators, but did 
not testify. Presume I will be called next week. My testi- 
mony is for the purpose of identifying the Cipher Code 
found on Booth's body with that used by Jeff Davis and 
the rebel generals. 

83 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

In this connection let us refer to the official 
report of the "Trial of the Conspirators" in May 
and June, 1865, compiled by Pitman. On pages 
41 and 42 is given the testimony of Lieut. W. H. 
Terry, Wm. Eaton, Charles Duell, Colonel Jos. 
H. Taylor, Charles A. Dana, and General 
Eckert, which, taken altogether, prove that the 
alphabet square cipher, at least three copies of 
which were in the possession of Booth and his co- 
conspirators,^ was identical with one of the two 
cipher-keys found by INIr. Dana in the office of Ju- 
dah P. Benjamin, Confederate Secretary of State 
at Richmond, on April 6, 1865, three days after 

^ Duell identified at the trial a cipher-letter dated Washington, 
D. C, April 15, written by one of Booth's band to another one in 
North Carolina, to whom, apparently, had been assigned the task of 
assassinating General Sherman. Duell testified that he had found 
this letter at Moorehead City, North Carolina, and that with the 
help of a friend he had deciphered it by means of the alphabet 
square. 

The following is a copy of Duell's translation of the above- 
mentioned letter, with unimportant parts omitted : 

Washington, D. C, April the 15, '65. 
John W. Wise. 

Dear Johk: I am happy to inform you that Pet has done his 
work well. He is safe and old Abe is in hell. Now sir, all eyes 
are on you. You must bring Slierman — Grant is in the hands of 
old Gray ere this. Red Shoes showed lack of nerve in Seward's 
case but fell back in good order. Johnson must come. Old Crook 

has him in charge . . . Old always behind, lost the pop at 

City Point . . . No. Two will give you this . . . (signed) No. 
FIVE. 

84 



CONFEDERATE CIPHER-CODES 

the evacuation of that city. That evidence also 
shows that the same cipher-code was used in 1864 
(and no doubt at other times) for official de- 
spatches between President Davis and Secretary 
of State Benjamin at Richmond, and the Con- 
federate agents, Thompson, Clay, Holcombe, 
and Saunders in Canada. It is inconceivable 
that Booth was not supplied with this cipher-code 
by the Confederate government, although it does 
not follow that President Davis or any of his 
cabinet had any previous knowledge of the assas- 
sination plot.^ 

^ A more detailed reference to this secret agency will be made in 
a subsequent chapter on "The Attempt to Burn New York. * 



85 



VI 



IN THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE WAR 

MY first assignment to duty was at the Navy 
Yard under Captain, afterward Admiral, 
Dahlgren, who directed the sergeant of the guard 
to keep a sentry in front of the door leading to 
the telegraph room, and to allow no one to enter 
or leave. These orders were obeyed literally, and 
for four days I was virtually a prisoner, my fru- 
gal meals being sent to my room. The confine- 
ment became so irksome that on one occasion I 
locked the door and climbed out of the window; 
but on my return by the same route, the sentry 
overheard the noise I made, and when I opened 
the door he warned me that the manceuver could 
be repeated only at the risk of a shot from his 
gun. 

Early in May I was transferred to Annapolis 
Junction, where on the night of the 10th I was 
roused from bed by General Butler, who ordered 
me to open the telegraph office and keep the rail- 

86 



IN THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE WAR 

road track clear to Annapolis for the train carry- 
ing Ross Winans, whom he had that day arrested 
in Baltimore for treason. I continued to call the 
Annapolis office for several hours, but finally 
concluded that General Butler's train had safely 
reached its destination or else had encountered 
obstacles which I could not hope to remove. I 
returned to the War Department on JNIay 24, 
and remained there on continuous duty until a 
year after the close of the war, excepting for two 
weeks in June, 1864, when I served as cipher- 
operator for General Grant at City Point, Vir- 
ginia. 

In May, 1861, the telegraph office was moved 
from the chief clerk's room to the entresol, or 
first landing, of the stairway leading to the sec- 
ond story of the War Department building, a 
railing having been erected to inclose the tele- 
graph-instruments and secure some measure of 
seclusion. The inner space was small and, dur- 
ing the disastrous days of Bull Run, when Lin- 
coln came to the office, remaining for hours at a 
time with General Scott and one or more mem- 
bers of his cabinet, the place was so crowded that 
the operators found it difficult to attend properly 
to their work. 

87 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

On Sunday, July 21, when the battle of Bull 
Run was fought, the military telegraph-line had 
reached Fairfax Court-house, and an impro- 
vised office had been opened at that point. Com- 
munication with General McDowell's headquar- 
ters at the front was maintained bv means of a 
corps of mounted couriers, organized by Andrew 
Carnegie, under the immediate direction of Wil- 
liam B. Wilson, who then served as our manager. 
These couriers passed back and forth all day long 
between Fairfax and the front. Lincoln hardly 
left his seat in our office and waited with deep 
anxiety for each succeeding despatch. At times 
during the awful day, General Scott would con- 
fer with the President or Secretary Cameron for 
a short period, and then depart to put into effect 
some urgent measures for protecting the capital. 

Wilson says of these events:^ 

The group was composed on President Lincoln, Secre- 
taries Seward, Cameron, Chase, Welles, Attorney-General 
Bates, General Mansfield, Colonels Townsend, Van Rens- 
selaer, Hamilton and Wright of Lieutenant-General Scott's 
staff, and Colonel Thomas A. Scott. With maps of the 
field before them they watched, as it were, the conflict of 
arms as it progressed, at the same time keeping up a run- 
ning desultory conversation. 

^ "Acts and Actors in the Civil War." By WilUam Bender Wil- 
son, p. 48. 

88 



IN THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE WAR 

All the morning and well along into the 
afternoon, McDowell's telegrams were more or 
less encouraging, and Lincoln and his advisers 
waited with eager hope, believing that Beaure- 
gard was being pushed back to Manassas Junc- 
tion; but all at once the despatches ceased com- 
ing. At first this was taken to mean that 
McDowell was moving farther away from the 
telegraph, and then, as the silence became pro- 
longed, a strange fear seized upon the assembled 
watchers that perhaps all was not well. Sud- 
denly the telegraph-instrument became alive 
again, and the short sentence, "Our army is re- 
treating," was spelled out in the Morse charac- 
ters. This brief announcement was followed by 
meager details concerning the first great disaster 
that had befallen our troops and the panic that 
followed. 

The crowded telegraph ofiice was quickly de- 
serted by all except the operators, but Lincoln 
returned at intervals until after midnight, and 
shortly afterward the outlying office at Fairfax 
Court-house was abandoned. When morning 
dawned, our demoralized troops began to strag- 
gle, and then to pour, in an ever-increasing stream 
of frightened humanity over Long Bridge into 

91 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Washington, the immediate capture of which 
seemed then to be, and really was, within the 
power of the Confederate army, if only they 
had pressed their advantage. Consternation 
reigned supreme, and all realized that a great 
crisis of the war, the next after Sumter, was upon 
us. 

The dark clouds that settled at that time upon 
Lincoln's already wrinkled brow were destined 
never to lift their heavy weight, except for that 
all too brief period of exaltation, just before his 
tragic ending, when Grant had pushed Lee to 
Appomattox, and Richmond was at last in our 
hands. 

On March 28, 1907, a Reunion Dinner was 
given at the Hotel Manhattan in New York, 
which was attended by about fifty of the surviv- 
ors of the United States Military Telegraph 
Corps. Mr. Andrew Carnegie, one of the mem- 
bers, in his address said that "not a single tele- 
graph operator was among the frightened mob 
that crowded the railroad trains for Alexandria, 
when the stampede occurred at the first battle of 
Bull Run." Charles W. Jaques, now of Ashta- 
bula, Ohio, also present at that dinner, afterward 
said in a letter to the writer: 

92 



IN THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE WAR 

I was a boy of sixteen when that battle occurred, and 
was stationed at Springfield, Virginia, not far from the 
scene of action. I told the War Department office of the 
retreat of the Union Army, saying that those who passed 
my office first, were wounded soldiers, a few at a time, then 
squads of soldiers, followed later by companies and regi- 
ments. I added that I was going to close my office, and go 
with the crowd. The following telegram came back at once : 
"War Department, Washington, to Jaques, operator, 
Springfield, If you keep your office open until you have 
permission to close it, you will be rewarded. If you close it 
without such permission, you will be shot. Thos. A. 
Scott." So I remained, giving the War Department all the 
information obtainable until the entire army, including 
wounded and stragglers had passed by. It was 8 a.m. 
Monday, July 22, when my office was closed and I left for 
Washington. My reward was a leave of absence for two 
weeks to visit my home in Ohio, with free transportation 
and three months' pay, all in twenty-dollar gold pieces. 

Our Bull Run experience in the telegraph of- 
fice showed the necessity for more room and a 
location where the operators would be free from 
outside observation; so we were transferred to a 
large room on the first floor. 

Lincoln visited us frequently in this room, and 
from its windows, in September, 1861, watched his 
friend Colonel E. D. Baker, with his brigade, in- 
cluding the so-called California regiment (71st 
Pennsylvania Volunteers) marching out on his 
way to Ball's Bluff and death. Lincoln also 

^ 93 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

made daily visits during this period to McCIel- 
lan's headquarters on Fifteenth Street, to which 
wires had been run and the telegraph placed in 
charge of Thomas T. Eckert, who had been ap- 
pointed captain and assistant aide-de-camp. 
Eckert's written instructions from Secretary 
Cameron (possibly at McClellan's request) were 
to deliver all military telegrams received at 
Washington to the commanding general; and 
this order, in at least one case, caused Eckert to 
keep from Lincoln's knowledge a despatch of 
great importance, as will be explained below. 

On October 21, 1861, a message from General 
Stone, near Poolsville, was received at army 
headquarters over the hastily constructed tele- 
graph-line, stating that his troops had moved 
across the Potomac at Edward's Ferry, and after 
an encounter with the enemy had been repulsed 
with considerable loss including Colonel E. D. 
Baker, who was killed. McClellan not being in 
his office Eckert started out to find him, taking 
from the stable the sole remaining horse, an ugly- 
tempered mare, dubbed the "man-killer." He 
rode over to Fitz-John Porter's headquarters 
across the Potomac, where he learned that 
McClellan had returned to the city. Eckert came 

94 



IN THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE WAR 

back and finding that McClellan had gone to the 
White House, dismounted, walked across Lafay- 
ette Square and, in Lincoln's presence, delivered 
the message to McClellan, who did not tell the 
President what it contained. 

It must be borne in mind that in the early part 
of the war, before Lincoln's unique personality 
and masterly qualities became known to the mem- 
bers of his cabinet, heads of departments, and 
others, his freedom of intercourse with the pub- 
lic and the readiness with which he gave out mili- 
tary information had been taken advantage of 
by newspaper correspondents and others. 

From McClellan's "Own Story" we learn that 
he had no confidence in Lincoln's military ability 
or discretion, and that he believed information 
communicated to him would be divulged to con- 
gressmen and others, and he therefore thought it 
best to give him as little news as possible. 

Soon after the delivery of Stone's despatch to 
McClellan, Lincoln came to headquarters and 
asked Eckert if he had any late despatches from 
the front. Eckert was in a quandary. He re- 
called the peculiar wording of his order of ap- 
pointment, and as McClellan had not seen fit to 
disclose the contents of Stone's despatch, he did 

95 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

not feel that he was warranted in doing so. Ac- 
cordingly he gave the evasive answer that there 
was nothing on file. Lincoln then went into 
McClellan's room and there saw the despatch for 
the first time. On his way out, passing Eckert's 
desk, he asked him why he had withheld the infor- 
mation. Eckert thereupon told the President 
what his written orders on the subject were, and 
explained that when he saw Mr. Lincoln enter 
the office he had deftly placed the copy of the de- 
spatch under the blotter, so that when he made his 
reply to the President he had told the truth, but 
not all the truth. Thereafter, when told there was 
no news, Lincoln would sometimes slyly remark : 
"Is there not something under the blotter?" 

Eckert says that when Lincoln heard of the 
death of his old friend, Colonel Baker, he seemed 
greatly depressed. 

Charles Carlton Coffin, a newspaper wTiter of 
note, said of this incident:^ 

I doubt if any other of the many tragic events of Lin- 
coln's life ever stunned him so much as that unheralded 
message, which came over the wires while he was beside 
the instrument on that mournful day, October 21, 1861.^ 

^ "Reminiscences of Lincoln," compiled by Allan Thorndike Rice. 

- It will be observed from Eckert's account that Lincoln was not 
in the telegraph oflBce at the precise moment when General Stone's 
message was received. 

96 



IN THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE WAR 

Colonel Baker had succeeded Lincoln in Con- 
gress, and between the two there had always been 
a close friendship, which was formed during the 
years in which they had practised law in Illinois. 
Lincoln's second son, who died in 1853, had been 
named Edward Baker Lincoln. The President, 
no doubt, keenly felt the death of his friend as a 
great personal loss; and, besides, it must have 
helped to make him realize that the terrible strug- 
gle in which the country was engaged would de- 
mand the sacrifice of many more such useful 
lives. 

Reverting again to Eckert's explanation re- 
garding the withholding of Stone's message from 
Lincoln, he says the President made no criticism 
of his action; but upon more careful reflection 
Eckert concluded he had made a mistake because 
as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Lincoln 
outranked both the Secretary of War and the 
commanding general. 

On November 1, 1861, the President issued an 
order placing Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott 
upon the retired list, and appointing Major- Gen- 
eral George B. McClellan to the command of the 
army of the United States in his place. 

On November 8, 1861, Captain Charles Wilkes, 

97 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

commanding the United States war-ship, San 
Jacinto, overhauled the Enghsh mail steamer 
Trent, which had sailed from Havana the day 
before, having as passengers Mason and Slidell, 
Confederate commissioners, sent to seek from 
England and France recognition of the Confed- 
eracy. By a show of force Captain Wilkes com- 
pelled the English captain to surrender the two 
envoys. The seizure was not warranted by inter- 
national law, but it seemed right and proper to 
the zealous sailor, who carried his prisoners to 
Boston, arriving there November 24. The 
entire North indorsed the seizure, and Congress, 
immediately on assembling in December, unani- 
mously passed a resolution of thanks to Captain 
Wilkes for "his brave, adroit and patriotic con- 
duct," and requested the President to place the 
two envoys in solitary confinement. 

When the despatch announcing the arrival at 
Boston of the San Jacinto, and giving an ac- 
count of the boarding of the British vessel and 
the capture of Mason and Slidell, reached the 
War Department, a conference was at once held 
in the telegraph office, Lincoln being present with 
his cabinet and several senators. I have read 
somewhere that a prominent senator or member 

98 



IN THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE WAR 

of the cabinet, whose identity does not appear, 
was for hanging the two men, and then apologiz- 
ing to Great Britain afterward. Each of the 
company present, with the exception of the Presi- 
dent and one other, whose name is not recorded, 
expressed the opinion that Captain Wilkes did a 
brave and right tiling in overhauling the British 
vessel and seizing the two emissaries. 

Lincoln, however, was wise enough to realize 
that we were in the fault, and that we could not 
hope to hold the envoys, when England should 
demand their release, which it was certain she 
would do. His longer vision also enabled him to 
see that by yielding up our prisoners, with an 
apology to Great Britain, we should place her in 
such a position that she must keep her hands off 
our domestic affairs. After a brief corre- 
spondence between Secretary Seward and the 
British government, we released Mason and 
Slidell, confessed that the act was wrong, or, 
rather, that it was an inadvertence, and at one 
stroke brought England to acknowledge the 
rights of neutrals, her failure to do which, had 
caused the War of 1812. 

This was one of many occasions when the War 
Department telegraph office was the scene of a 

99 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

historic conference. One reason why this was so, 
aside from the fact that news of many important 
and controlHng events first reached the Govern- 
ment by telegraph through the medium of that 
office, was that the War Department building 
adjoined the Navy Department and the head- 
quarters of the commanding general, all three 
locations being nearer the White House than the 
Treasury or other departments. It was there- 
fore easier for the President to bring a majority 
of his cabinet together in the War Department 
than anywhere else, not even excepting the White 
House. 



100 



VII 



McClelian's disagreements with the 
administration 



IT is not within the scope of this work, nor 
would it appear advisable otherwise, to add 
anything to the great mass of testimony in favor 
of or against General McClellan in the wordy 
contest between his friends and critics ; but it may 
be worth while to cast a few side-lights upon the 
controversy from the sources of information 
available to the telegraph staff at the War De- 
partment; bearing in mind the reasonable pre- 
sumption that the slight amount of testimony 
here produced is from one who may be considered 
a prejudiced witness. 

In the previous chapter reference has been 
made to McClellan's "Own Story," in which he 
gives his version of the innumerable and in fact 
almost continual differences with Lincoln and 
Stanton. 

It is trite to say that McClellan began his mili- 
tary career in the Civil War period under ex- 

101 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

traordinarily favorable conditions, and that Lin- 
coln had so high an opinion of his abilities as 
to raise him — a man only thirty-five years of age 
— to the position of Commanding General of the 
United States Army to succeed General Win- 
field Scott, whose first laurels were gained at 
Lundy's Lane in 1812. And yet, within less 
than six months, the relations between the 
Administration and INIcClellan had become so 
strained that the good President was forced to 
write him a conciliatory letter, the opening words 
of which are these : 

Washington, April 9, 1862. 
Major-General McClellan. 

My Dear Sir: Your despatches, complaining that you are 
not properly sustained, while they do not offend me, do 
pain me very much. 

The entire letter seems to show very clearly the 
extreme tension that existed ; but the cause of the 
tension was elsewhere than in the President, who 
in closing says: 

I beg to assure you that I have never written you or 
spoken to you in greater kindness of feeling than now, nor 
with a fuller purpose to sustain you, so far as in my most 
anxious judgment I consistently can; but you must act. 

Yours very truly, 

A, Lincoln. 
102 



McCLELLAN'S DISAGREEMENTS 

So far as may be judged from telegraphic 
data the estrangement— if it may be so termed— 
first showed itself when McClellan decided upon 
his Richmond campaign by way of the Peninsula 
instead of the direct land route, and when he 
proposed to take McDowell's army with him, 
thus, in the opinion of the President and Secre- 
tary of War, leaving Washington inadequately 
protected. The gap widened when McClellan's 
independent course of action drew to his side 
political allies, who took advantage of the situa- 
tion by tendering their partizan advice to the 
young "Napoleon" — as he was called by ardent 
admirers — and by offering him support. 

In the latter part of April, 1862, Eckert 
was ordered by Stanton to go to Fort 
Monroe to look after telegraph matters, and 
while there several long messages were received 
from New York City, addressed to McClellan, 
whose headquarters were at White House on the 
Pamunkey, about twenty miles from Richmond. 
These messages were signed by a prominent New 
Yorker, who was then chairman of the National 
Democratic Committee, and were of such an ex- 
traordinary character that Eckert, on his own 
responsibility, concluded not to forward them over 

103 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

the headquarters line, but to hold them until he 
could deliver them in person. In effect, they 
advised IVIcClellan to disregard interference by 
the Administration with army matters, and to 
act on his own judgment. In that case, his ad- 
viser said, he would be sustained by the people of 
the North, who were becoming weary of having 
military affairs directed by civilians at Washing- 
ton. 

Before Eckert could go to McClellan's head- 
quarters, the President and Secretary of War, 
with Assistant Secretary Fox of the Navy, 
came to Fort INIonroe, in order to be on hand 
when the movement against Norfolk should be 
made. That movement resulted (on May 10) 
in the capture of Norfolk by the Union forces, 
and the blowing up of the Confederate ram 
Merrimac. Eckert showed the messages to Stan- 
ton, who asked if any answers had been sent. 
Eckert said no, because the messages had not yet 
been delivered to McClellan. 

Stanton then called Lincoln's attention to the 
matter, and, after a long discussion, it was decided 
to have Eckert go to White House Landing, 
and deliver the delayed messages to McClel- 
lan. This was done, and when the General read 

104 



McCLELLAN'S DISAGREEMENTS 

them, he asked whether they had been with- 
held by order of Stanton. Eckert said no; that 
Stanton had not seen them, nor had he known 
anything about them until that very morn- 
ing. 

McClellan said: "Thank God, Major, that 
Stanton had a man in your position who not only 
had the good sense, but the courage to suppress 
these messages!" McClellan added, that if he 
had received them promptly, he would have felt 
compelled to make some reply that would prob- 
ably have placed him in a false position. INIcClel- 
lan then sat down and wrote a letter to Stanton, 
stating that he was glad that Eckert had withheld 
the messages, and that he had not received any 
others of a similar kind. 

McClellan not only suffered from the injudi- 
cious suggestions and the adulation of his poli- 
tical admirers, but also from the indiscretions of 
his father-in-law. General Marcy, Inspector- 
General of the Army of the Potomac, who was 
naturally ambitious for the success of his son-in- 
law. About the end of JNIay, 1862, when our 
army was moving toward Richmond, a consid- 
erable skirmish took place, at first resulting in 
om- favor. McClellan being at the front, Marcy, 

105 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

at headquarters, wrote a glowing and exagger- 
ated account of the incipient battle, and sent it 
to Washington over McClellan's name. 

Shortly afterward other despatches, also over 
McClellan's signature, were received stating that 
our troojDS had been defeated with considerable 
loss, no allusion being made to the previous fav- 
orable news. 

It was just at this time that the question of 
McClellan's removal from command of the army 
was being considered by Lincoln and Stanton. 
The latter sent for the President and showed him 
the two contrary despatches, and urged that the 
removal should be ordered at once. Eckert, who 
was present, ventured the opinion that the word- 
ing of the first despatch was unlike McClellan's 
usual diction and that perhaps he had not written 
or authorized it. Lincoln said he thought so too, 
and that it would be well to find out the facts be- 
fore further judgment was passed upon IVIcClel- 
lan. He added that Eckert had better go in per- 
son to McClellan's headquarters and learn all the 
facts on the ground. Stanton thereupon directed 
Eckert to apply to Colonel Rucker, Assistant- 
Quartermaster, for a boat to carry him that after- 
noon to the Pamunkey. Eckert arrived at Mc- 

106 



McCLELLAN'S DISAGREEMENTS 

Clellan's headquarters about two o'clock the fol- 
lowing morning and found Colonel Colburn, one 
of McClellan's aides-de-camp, who took him di- 
rectly to McClellan's tent. The General, clad 
only in a red flannel shirt and drawers, awoke, 
and rubbing his eyes, asked what was up. Eckert 
showed him a copy of the two telegrams received 
at the War Department, and told McClellan that 
it was believed the first one was a forgery, and 
that Secretary Stanton had sent him down to find 
out the facts. 

McClellan said he had not sent the first tele- 
gram, and could offer no explanation at the 
moment. He asked Eckert to get the original at 
the telegraph office. Eckert found Caldwell, the 
cipher-operator, asleep on a cot, who, when shown 
the troublesome despatch, said that it had been 
handed in the day before by General Marcy, and 
as it was signed "Geo. B. McClellan," he had 
every reason to believe it was duly authorized. 
Eckert asked Caldwell to indorse these facts 
upon the back of the copy, and then returned to 
McClellan, who for the second time within a 
month acknowledged his obligation to the Mili- 
tary Telegraph Corps for protecting him against 
his friends, whose indiscretions had already caused 

107 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

more or less trouble and friction between the 
War Department and himself. 

One must believe that McClellan at that time 
was sincere in this expression of friendly feeling 
toward the Administration, although we know 
that after the bloody Seven Days' fighting, and 
when his nearly demoralized army had been 
brought to the banks of the James at Harrison's 
Landing, he had drifted into an attitude of open 
hostility to the Administration, and had brought 
railing accusations against tlie Washington au- 
thorities/ 

On February 25, 1862, Secretary Stanton, be- 
cause of the premature publication in the news- 
papers of important military movements, ap- 
pointed Edwards S. Sanford, president of the 
American Telegraph Company, to the position 
of military supervisor of telegrams. 

Sanford's relations with the newspapers 
were always cordial and pleasant, notwith- 
standing the delicate and sometimes trying 
position of military censor. What his blue 
pencil erased from press reports had to be 
left out, and reporters frequently spent hours 

* See his telegram of June 28, 1863, on page 424 of his "Own 
Story" of this campaign, referred to on the following page. 

108 



McCLELLAN'S DISAGREEMENTS 

in procuring some choice bit of news which was 
never transmitted over the wires. Sanford even 
took liberties with an official telegram from Gen- 
eral McClellan addressed to Secretary Stanton 
announcing the retreat of the Army of the 
Potomac to the banks of the James. 

The following is a copy, in part, of this re- 
markable despatch, taken from the official report 
of General McClellan. 

Savage's Station, 

June 28, 1862, 12:20 a.m. 
Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, 

Secretary of War: 

I now know the full history of the day ... I feel too 
earnestly to-night. I have seen too many dead and 
wounded comrades to feel otherwise than that the Govern- 
ment has not sustained this army. If you do not do so now 
the game is lost. If I save this army now, I tell you 
plainly that I owe no thanks to you or to any other persons 
in Washington. You have done your best to sacrifice this 
army. G. B. McClellan. 

Such language was insubordinate, and might 
fairly be held to be treasonable. When it 
reached the War Department, Major Johnson 
sent for Sanford, who at once said that the 
charge made by McClellan was false, and that 
he, as military supervisor of telegrams, would not 

^ 109 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

allow it to go before the Secretary of War. He 
therefore directed the despatch to be recopied, 
omitting the last paragraph, and the copy, so re- 
vised, was delivered to Stanton. 

McClellan's biographer, William C. Prime, 
referring to this incident, charges Stanton with 
having received* McClellan's scathing con- 
demnation without denial or comment; but 
neither Stanton nor Lincoln ever knew that San- 
ford had suppressed an important part of an 
official despatch, or, at least, not until after the 
event. 

The mutilated copy, so delivered, is contained 
in the report of the Committee on the Conduct 
of the War, Vol. I, p. 340.' The fact of the omis- 
sion, so far as it •Ineans anything, supports 
Major Johnson's statement that Sanford took 
upon himself the grave responsibility of muti- 
lating an official communication from the general 
commanding the Army of the Potomac addressed 
to the Secretary of War. In other countries, 
under strict military rules (which might well 
have applied to this case if the facts had been 
known at the time), officers could be court-mar- 
tialed and shot for a lesser offense. 

* See note at end of chapter. 

110 



McCLELLAN'S DISAGREEMENTS 

In McClellan's official report, dated August 4, 
1863, of his military service between July, 1861, 
and November, 1862, the despatch is given just 
as it was written by him and telegraphed to 
Washington, including the paragraph excised by 
Sanford, and consequently it was by his own act 
that the expunged lines were first made public. 

It was in consequence of McClellan's defeats, 
the unsatisfactory character of his correspon- 
dence and the imminent danger of the capture 
of Washington by the enemy, that the President 
decided to transfer the Army of the Potomac to 
Alexandria, and to put General Jolin Pope in 
immediate command ; and to Eckert was assigned 
the delicate task of carrying to McClellan the 
order for his release from the supreme command 
of the Army of the Potomac, and for its transfer 
to the vicinity of Washington. 

So, for the third time, Eckert visited McClellan 
as the confidential medium of communication 
from tlie Administration; but naturally he was 
not so welcome on this occasion as in the other 
cases, for McClellan yielded to the inevitable 
most unwillingly and even ungraciously, using 
language which Eckert deemed it wise not to re- 
port at Washington. There were unexplained 

111 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

delays in the transfer of the army to Alexandria, 
and after McClellan had reached that place, his 
troops did not promptly support Pope. How- 
ever, his "Own Story" offers some facts and ar- 
guments in his favor which should be considered 
by those wishing to be fair and just to him. 

Note. Major A. E. H. Johnson, Custodian of Military 
Telegrams during the Civil War, supplies the following 
authentic information in regard to McClellan's much dis- 
cussed despatch of June 28, 186"2. 

"McClellan's historian — W. C. Prime — states that this 
despatch in its mutilated condition was laid before Congress 
by Stanton, who thus stood accused, not only of having 
suppressed the two paragraphs with which it closed, but 
also by that omission of admitting the truth of the accusa- 
tion. I declare that the telegram as delivered to Stanton 
by the telegraph staff did not contain the words which Mc- 
Clellan's historian says were suppressed by Stanton. Gen- 
eral E. A. Hitchcock testified, in the McDowell Court of 
Inquiry, in 1863, that he had access to all the records, and 
that the despatch in question (without the two paragraplis 
at the end) was an exact transcrii)t of the official copy in 
the War Dejjartment files." 



112 



VIII 

LINCOLN IN TOUCH WITH ARMY MOVEMENTS 

FROM the time that Edwin M. Stanton en- 
tered Lincoln's cabinet, January 15, 1862, 
the President visited the War Department tele- 
graph office more frequentlj^ than during Secre- 
tary Cameron's incumbency, and his visits grew 
more and more prolonged. 

It was in the telegraph office that I recall hav- 
ing first heard one of his humorous remarks. 
General Robert C. Schenck, who after the war 
became minister to England (but who is perhaps 
better remembered as the author of a treatise on 
the gentle art of playing poker, of which game 
the English public became greatly enamoured 
about that time), was in command of our forces 
near Alexandria. One evening he sent a tele- 
gram from Drainsville, Virginia, announcing a 
slight skirmish with the enemy, resulting in the 
capture of thirty or forty prisoners, all armed 
with Colt's revolvers. As Lincoln read the mes- 
sage, he turned to the operator, who had handed 

113 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

it to him, and said, with a twinkle in his eye, that 
the newspapers were given to such exaggeration 
in pubhshing army news that we might be sure 
when General Schenck's despatch appeared in 
print the next day all the little Colt's revolvers 
would have grown into horse-pistols. 

Many years afterward an Englishman sup- 
plied me with a sequel to this story. On March 
17, 1905, while crossing the Atlantic on the 
Cunard liner Caronia, I addressed to the cabin 
audience some "Recollections of Lincoln," which 
were listened to by passengers of many nationali- 
ties. Reference was made to Lincoln's typical 
English patronymic, and also, it being St. Pat- 
rick's Day, to his reputed Irish ancestry, and I re- 
peated the Lincoln story above quoted. On the 
following day an Englishman accosted me on 
the promenade deck, and said, "Oh, I was very 
much amused last evening by your anecdotes of 
President Lincoln, and particularly by that one 
about the Colt's revolvers growing into horse- 
pistols. That was quite funny, don't you know 
— but tell me, ]Mr, Bates, did the newspapers ac- 
tually print horse-pistols, as ^Ir. Lincoln said 
they would?" I was compelled to tell my ques- 
tioner that so long a time had elapsed I had really 

114 



LINCOLN IN TOUCH WITH ARMY 

forgotten how the despatch read when pub- 
Hshed. 

Another incident connected with the appar- 
ently futile operations of General Schenck led 
the President to give us a further bit of humor. 
Upon receiving a despatch one day which, like 
many others about that time, told of petty skir- 
mishes, with no definite results, Lincoln remarked 
that the whole business of backing and filling on 
the part of Schenck's forces and those of the 
enemy reminded him of two snappy dogs, sepa- 
rated by a rail fence and barking at each other 
like fury, until, as they ran along the fence, they 
came to an open gate, whereupon they suddenly 
stopped barking, and after looking at each other 
for a moment, turned tail, and trotted off in op- 
posite directions. 

On March 9, 1862, the telegraph office was the 
scene of great excitement, when the startling 
news came by wire from Cherrystone Point, on 
the Virginia eastern shore, opposite Fort Mon- 
roe, that the Confederate iron-clad ram Virginia 
(usually called by her former name, the Merri- 
mac) had come out of the Elizabeth River from 
Portsmouth, and after a short fight had sunk the 
Cumberland, burned the Congress, and run the 

115 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Minnesota aground, and might be looked for up 
the Potomac within forty-eight hours. In Nico- 
lay and Hay's "Lincoln"^ this incident is re- 
ferred to thus : 

Telegraphic news of these events reached Washington 
the next morning, Sunday, and the hasty meeting of the 
Cabinet . . . was perhaps the most excited and impres- 
sive of the whole war. . . . Lincoln was, as usual in try- 
ing moments, composed but eagerly inquisitive, critically 
scanning the despatches . . . joining scrap to scrap of 
information, applying his searching analysis and clear 
logic to read the danger and find the remedy. 

Lincoln alone seemed hopeful that better news 
would soon be received, and his hopes were ful- 
filled. While the Sunday quiet of that day was 
being disturbed bj^ the hurried preparations of 
the army and navy to block the Potomac channel 
by obstructions sunk at one or more points for 
the purpose of preventing the ram and her con- 
sorts from reaching Washington, the following 
telegram, dated the day before, but delayed by a 
break in the cable, was received : 

Fort Monroe, March 8, 1862. 
Secretary of War: The iron-clad Ericsson battery 
Monitor has arrived, and will proceed to take care of the 
Merrimac in the morning. 

John E. Wool, Major-Gen'l Cont'd' g. 

1 Vol. V, p. 226. 

116 



LINCOLN IN TOUCH WITH ARMY 

These were hopeful words from the brave old 
Mexican veteran, and when Lincoln and his cab- 
inet were assembled that evening in the telegraph 
office, eager and anxious for news of the prom- 
ised battle, we received the joyful news flashed 
over a new cable, laid during the day between 
Cherrystone Point and Fort Monroe, that Erics- 
son's little cheese-box Monitor, under command 
of Captain John L. Worden, had tackled the 
iron-clad giant, and sent her back to shelter, 
which, in fact, she never again forsook except for 
an occasional reconnaissance/ These glorious 
tidings brought instant relief to all, and 
especially to the President, who could not re- 
frain from showing his joy by every word 
and look. Two months later (May 10), when 
Norfolk was captured. President Lincoln, Sec- 
retary Stanton, and another member of the 
cabinet being at Fort Monroe, and directing 
the movement, the enemy blew up the Merri- 
maCj which drew too much water to permit 

^ In Church's "Life of John Ericsson," Vol. I, p. 287, appears a 
letter from Assistant Secretary Fox to Ericsson reading as follows: 
"I wrote the order forbidding the Monitor going into the Upper 
Roads to meet the Merrimac. Why? Because I had pledged Mc- 
Clellan that the Merrimac should not disturb his military maneu- 
vres. . . . We fulfilled our duty and kept her in until she commit- 
ted hari-kari." 

117 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

her to retreat up the James River to Rich- 
mond.^ 

It is reasonable to suppose that when the model 
of the 3Ionitor was first shown to Lincoln, his 
early experience with shallow river boats (out 
of which grew his invention of an "Improved 
Method of Lifting Vessels over Shoals") enabled 
him to perceive the inherent advantages pos- 
sessed by Ericsson's proposed light-draft vessel, 
in its facility for rapid handling in shallow water. 
It was largely through this very facility that the 
little Monitor was enabled to vanquish her big 
opponent. 

There were many times when Lincoln re- 
mained in the telegraph office till late at night, 
and occasionally all night long. One of these 
occasions was during Pope's short but disastrous 
campaign, ending in the second battle of Bull 
Run. Lincoln came to the War Department of- 
fice several times on August 26, the first of those 
strenuous, anxious days, and after supper he 
came again, prepared to stay all night, if neces- 

lOn my request the Navy Department has supplied the follow- 
ing data: 

"The Monitor's lower hull was 123 feet; her upper hull 172 feet 
long; her draft 101/3 feet. The Merrimac was 280 feet long, her 
draft 231/2 feet." 

118 



LINCOLN IN TOUCH WITH ARMY 

sary, in order to receive the latest news from 
Pope, who was at the front, and from McClellan, 
who was at Alexandria. 

Hour after hour of the long night passed with 
no news from the front until just before dawn, 
when the following was received:^ 

August 27, 1862, 4:25 a.m. 
A. Lincoln, President: Intelligence received within 
twenty minutes informs me that the enemy are advancing 
and have crossed Bull Run bridge; if it is not destroyed, it 
probably will be. The forces sent by us last night held 
it until that time. 

H. Haupt. 

Lincoln, who was still keeping vigil with the 
telegraph operators, at once penned this answer: 

August 27, 1862. 

Colonel Haupt : What became of our forces which held 
the bridge till twenty minutes ago, as you say.'' 

A. Lincoln. 

Receiving no reply immediately, Lincoln tele- 
graphed again: 

War Department, August 27, 1862. 
Colonel Haupt: Is the railroad bridge over Bull Run 
destroyed ? 



A. Lincoln. 



1 Haupt's " Reminiscences," p. 100. 

119 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

To this Colonel Haupt replied, the following 
day: 

August 28, 1862. 
President Lincoln: 

. . . Colonel Scammon held Bull Run Bridge a long time 
against a very superior force, retired at last in perfect 
order. ... H. Haupt. 

During the next few days, Lincoln sent other 
brief messages of inquiry to Colonel Haupt, upon 
whom he, as well as Secretary Stanton and Gen- 
eral Halleck, seemed to depend for early infor- 
mation far more than upon Pope or McClellan, 
as shown by the following additional telegrams 
(taken from Haupt's "Reminiscences," p. 107 
et seq). 

War Department, Aug. 28, 1862, 2:40 p.m. 

Col. Haupt: Yours received. How do you learn that the 
rebel forces at Manassas are large and commanded by sev- 
eral of their best generals? A. Lincoln. 

August 28, 1862. 
President Lincoln: One of Colonel Scammon's sur- 
geons was captured and released; he communicated the in- 
formation. One of our firemen was captured and escaped; 
he confirms it and gives important details. General McClel- 
lan has just seen him. ... H. Haupt. 

August 29, 1862. 
Colonel Haupt: What news from direction of Manas- 
sas Junction? What generally? A. Lincoln. 

120 



LINCOLN IN TOUCH WITH ARMY 

August 29, 1862. 
President Lincoln and General Halleck: General 
Pope was at Centreville this morning at six o'clock. 
Seemed to be in good spirits. ... H. Haupt. 

August 30, 1862, 9:00 a.m. 
Colonel: What news? A. Lincoln. 

August 30, 1862, 8:50 p.m. 

Colonel Haupt: Please send me the latest news. 

A. Lincoln. 

August 30, 1862. 

A. Lincoln, President: Our operator has reached Manas- 
sas. Hears no firing of importance. . . . We have reestab- 
lished telegraphic communication with Manassas. . . . 

. . . Our telegraph operators and railway employees 
are entitled to great credit. They have been advanced pio- 
neers, occupying the posts of danger; and the exploit of 
penetrating to Fairfax and bringing off the wounded when 
they supposed that 20,000 rebels were on their front and 
flanks, was one of the boldest performances I have ever 
heard of. H. Haupt. 

August 31, 1862, 7:10 a.m. 
Colonel Haupt: What news.'' Did you hear any firing 
this morning? A. Lincoln. 

August 31, 1862. 

President Lincoln : No news received as yet this morn- 
ing. Firing heard distinctly in direction of Bristoe at six 
o'clock. H. Haupt. 

121 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

And so the anxious hours passed, with "Lincoln 
in the Telegraph Office" on the watch until it 
was known that for the second time our army 
had met defeat on the fatal field of Bull Run. 

General Haupt, in his "Reminiscences," makes 
this reference to Lincoln's anxiety: "Dur- 
ing this protracted engagement, August 24 to 
September 2, 1862, the President was in a state 
of extreme anxiety and could have slept but lit- 
tle. Inquiries came from him at all hours of the 
night asking for the latest news from the front." 
The cipher-operators could confirm this state- 
ment even if Lincoln's messages here quoted did 
not establish the fact. They also clearly show 
that for a man who never had a day's military 
experience (if strictly speaking, we may except 
the farcical episode in his career in the Black 
Hawk Indian Campaign in 1832), Lincoln, who 
by virtue of the presidential office, was Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the 
United States, possessed an almost intuitive per- 
ception of the practical requirements of that re- 
sponsible office, and that in his usual common- 
sense way of doing things, he was performing 
the duties of that position in the most intelligent 
and effective manner. 

122 



LINCOLN IN TOUCH WITH ARMY 

During the entire war, the files of the War 
Department telegraph office were punctuated 
with short, pithy despatches from Lincoln. 
For instance, on May 24, 1862, he sent ten 
or twelve to various generals; on May 25, as 
many more; and from one to a dozen on nearly 
every succeeding day for months. It is also 
worthy of remark that Lincoln's numerous tele- 
grams, even those sent by him during his busy 
two weeks' visit to City Point in INIarch and 
April, 1865, and the less than half a dozen after 
his return to Washington, were almost without 
exception in his own handwriting, his copy being 
remarkably neat and legible, with seldom an 
erasure or correction. 

While Lincoln was sometimes critical and even 
sarcastic when events moved slowly, or when sat- 
isfactory results that seemed to be demanded by 
the .immediate conditions were lacking, yet he 
never failed to commend when good news came, 
as in the following : 

August 17, 1864, 10:30 a.m. 
Lieutenant-General Grant, City Point, Va. : I have 
seen your despatch expressing your unwillingness to break 
your hold where you are. Neither am I willing. Hold on 
with a bull-dog grip, and chew and choke as much as pos- 
sible. A. Lincoln. 

123 



IX 

ECKERT, CHIEF OF THE WAR DEPARTMENT 
TELEGRAPH STAFF 

THE most prominent figure in the War De- 
partment telegraph office, was Major 
Thomas Thompson Eckert, our chief. Born in 
Ohio in 1821, he was just forty years old at the 
outbreak of the Civil War. He first became 
interested in the telegraph through reading "The 
National Intelligencer," for which his father 
subscribed, and which contained the proceedings 
of Congress relating to Professor Morse's inven- 
tion, and the various steps which led up to the 
appropriation by Congress in 1843 of $30,000 
for the construction of an experimental line. 
After the trial had proved successful and lines 
had been built from Washington to New York, 
young Eckert eagerly followed Morse's doings, 
and finally, in 1847, against the will of his father 
and the appeal of his mother, he started from 
Wooster, Ohio, with thirty dollars in his pocket, 

124 



ECKERT, CHIEF OF TELEGRAPH STAFF 

traveling by stage, steamboat, horseback, and 
railroad, working his way nearly the entire jour- 
ney to New York City, for the sole purpose of 
seeing the Morse telegraph in operation, which he 
did at the office in the old Astor House, then said 
to be the largest hotel under one roof in the world. 
Returning to his home he soon learned to tele- 
graph, and with Jeptha H. Wade, and Isaac R. 
Ellwood, as partners, he built the first telegraph- 
line on the Fort Wayne railroad in the early '50's. 

He was its superintendent until a few years 
before the war, when he went to North Carolina 
to take charge of a gold-mine, controlled 
by Baltimore capitalists, after one of whom — 
Steele — the mine was named. In June, 1861, 
Eckert came North, ostensibly to procure addi- 
tional machinery for his mine, but really for the 
purpose of diagnosing the political situation, 
which he found to be so alarming that he deter- 
mined to return to North Carolina and bring his 
family, consisting of his wife, her sister, and his 
three young children, to Ohio. Reaching At- 
lanta in July, the day after news had been re- 
ceived of the battle of Rich Mountain, in West 
Virginia, and the death of the Confederate gen- 
eral Garnett, he found the old railway-station 

8 125 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

filled with an excited crowd of people. Upon 
inquiring the cause of the tumult, he was told 
that a Northern man had been hanged just out- 
side the depot an hour before. Pressing his in- 
quiries, he learned the name of the victim, who 
had been employed in a mine not far from the 
one he had been superintending. Meantime, 
upon looking over the hotel register, he had ob- 
served the name of Alexander H. Stephens, Vice- 
President of the Confederacy, who, when a mem- 
ber of Congress in Washington some years be- 
fore, had been a room-mate of Eckert's cousin, 
George Eckert, both being bachelors. He sent 
his card to the room of the vice-president, 
who told the colored bell-boy to bring Eckert to 
him, and when this was done, a cordial greeting 
was extended to the cousin of Stephens's old 
friend. 

While they were talking there was a loud 
knocking at the door. When it was opened three 
men entered, one of whom, pointing to Eckert, 
said they wanted that man down-stairs. Stephens 
interposed his slight frame between Eckert and 
the delegation, and said: "This man is my guest 
and friend, and I will be responsible for him. 
He is all right." The men thereupon withdrew, 

126 




From a war-time photograph 

Major Thomas T. Eckert 



ECKERT, CHIEF OF TELEGRAPH STAFF 

and Eckert, having the patronage of so influen- 
tial a Southerner got safely out of Atlanta, tak- 
ing with him a letter from Stephens addressed to 
Governor Pickens of South Carolina, in which 
the suggestion was made that Eckert with his 
knowledge of mining would probably be useful 
to the Confederacy in supplying saltpeter for the 
manufacture of gunpowder/ 

Eckert went to Charleston to meet Governor 
Pickens, and, after discussing the saltpeter ques- 
tion, proceeded on his journey to the Steele 
mine, Montgomery County, North Carolina, 
not far from Salisbury. At B ranch ville, he 
heard the news of Beauregard's victory over 
the Union forces at the first battle of Bull Run, 
and at Columbia he witnessed the landing of 
a balloon in which Professor Lowe, the aero- 
naut, had started from Cincinnati intending to 
land at Louisville, but which had been carried by 
high winds far out of its course. 

When Eckert arrived at the mines he learned 
that, owing to his Northern birth and sentiments, 
and because of his visit to Baltimore, a warrant 
for his arrest as a spy had been issued. When 

^ The next time Eckert met Stephens was in February, 1865, at 
City Point. See chap. XXIV. 

129 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

haled before the judge, however, he was advised 
by the latter not to employ a lawyer, and not to 
answer questions, but to trust him — the judge. 
There being no affirmative proof Eckert was re- 
leased, and influential friends, including his fam- 
ily physician. Dr. Verdin, assisted in arrange- 
ments for his escape to the North. His party 
left the place one night in August, 1861, in an 
old covered wagon driven by a friendly negro. 
Their route M-as up the French Broad river and 
over the mountains into Tennessee. At Greenville 
he saw the sign of "Andrew Johnson, Tailor." 
From Greenville they went by train to Louis- 
ville. The entire journey w^as an anxious one, as 
they were held up and closely questioned at sev- 
eral points, and when they finally reached Louis- 
ville, they were penniless. Eckert was forced 
to ask help from his old friends in the railroad 
and telegraph service. He at last reached his 
former home in Cleveland, and Amasa Stone 
(for whom Eckert had rendered a service of 
some importance before the war) telegraphed to 
Colonel Scott, Assistant Secretary of War, 
that Eckert's services could be had. Scott 
had met Eckert previously, and he w\as or- 
dered to Washington, arriving there early in 

130 



ECKERT, CHIEF OF TELEGRAPH STAFF 

September. He was at once assigned to McClel- 
lan's staff as captain and aide-de-camp in charge 
of the military telegraph. Eckert was then a 
perfect specimen of physical manhood, erect and 
fine-looking, as, indeed, he still is at the age of 
eighty-six. 

I recall an incident which occm'red in 1862, in 
the room of John Potts, chief clerk of the War 
Department, where a supply of soft-iron pokers 
had just been received for use at the open fires by 
which the building was then heated. Eckert 
chaffed the chief clerk about his purchase, and to 
prove his statement that the pokers were of poor 
quality, he took one of them in his right hand and 
with a smart blow struck it across the tense mus- 
cles of his left forearm, bending the poker quite 
noticeably. On a later occasion Potts bought a 
lot of pokers which turned out to be cast-iron of 
poor quality, four or five of which Eckert actu- 
ally broke over his arm in the presence of Presi- 
dent Lincoln, who remarked to the chief clerk: 
"Mr. Potts, you will have to buy a better quality 
of iron in future if you expect your pokers to 
stand the test of this young man's arm." 

The story of how Eckert was promoted to be 
major and became chief of the War Department 

131 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Telegraph Staff, touches Lincoln at several 
points. In a previous chapter reference was 
made to the peculiar wording of Eckert's ap- 
pointment as manager of military telegraphs at 
army headquarters which required him to deliver 
all despatches to the commanding general. 
These instructions also caused him to refrain 
from sending military news to the Secretary of 
War himself, and when Stanton entered the 
cabinet (January 15, 1862), he soon fovmd that 
he was being kept in ignorance of army news, 
which, however, in some cases was printed in the 
newspapers and affected the financial markets. 
It seemed evident to Stanton that there was a 
leak somewhere, and naturally the telegraph de- 
partment was suspected. Stanton directed As- 
sistant Secretary Watson to investigate the mat- 
ter, and the latter devoted a part of his time for a 
week or so to this inquiry. His report to Stanton, 
while not locating the leak in the news, was to 
the effect that Eckert was not giving close atten- 
tion to his duties, and particularly that he had 
withheld important military despatches from the 
knowledge of the President and the Secretary of 
War. An order was thereupon made out for his 
dismissal. Stanton telegraphed for Edwards S. 

132 



ECKERT, CHIEF OF TELEGRAPH STAFF 

Sanford, President of the American Telegraph 
Company, to come from New York and take 
charge of the telegraph. This was early in Feb- 
ruary, 1862. Sanford had a high opinion of 
Eckert's abilities, faithfulness, and honesty, and 
so reported to Stanton, who, however, preferred 
to trust his assistant's report. At once, upon 
learning from Sanford that there was dissatis- 
faction with his service, Eckert wrote out his 
resignation, and sent it by messenger to the 
War Department. This was on a Saturday af- 
ternoon. Stanton was surprised and indignant 
that an officer under charges, and whose order of 
dismissal had been prepared, should have re- 
ceived an inkling of the facts, and sent in his 
resignation before the dismissal could be served 
on him. This placed Sanford in an unpleasant 
situation, and he went to Stanton's house early 
Sunday morning to intercede for Eckert, and 
finally obtained Stanton's consent to an interview. 
Eckert, accompanied by Sanford, went to 
the War Department that afternoon, and was 
ushered into the Secretary's presence, and, as 
he has recently told me, he and Sanford stood 
for at least ten minutes while Stanton con- 
tinued to write at his desk, without looking up to 

133 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

see who his callers were. Finally Stanton turned, 
and asked Eckert what he wanted. The latter 
replied, "Mr. Sanford tells me that you sent for 
me, and I am here." 

Then Stanton, in a loud voice, said he under- 
stood that Captain Eckert had been neglecting 
his duties, and was absent from his office much of 
the time, and allowed newspaper men to have 
access to the telegraph office ; also that he was an 
unfit person for the important position he occu- 
pied. Pointing to a large pile of telegrams, all 
of which were in Eckert's handwriting, he de- 
manded to know why copies had not been regu- 
larly delivered to the Secretary of War at the 
time of receipt. 

Eckert replied that his order of assignment 
from Secretary Cameron expressly required all 
military telegrams to be delivered to the com- 
manding general and to no one else. 

"Well," Stanton retorted, "why have you neg- 
lected your duties by absenting yourself from 
your office so frequently?" 

Eckert replied that he had not neglected his 
duties ; that he had attended to them strictly and 
faithfully; that any statements to the contrary 
were false; that for over three months he had 

134 



ECKERT, CHIEF OF TELEGRAPH STAFF 

been at his post of duty almost constantly, and 
had hardly taken off his clothes during that time 
except to change his linen ; that he had remained 
in his office many times all night long, and that he 
seldom slept in his bed at his hotel; and finally, 
inasmuch as it appeared that his services were not 
acceptable, he insisted upon his resignation being 
accepted. 

Just then Eckert felt an arm placed on his 
shoulder, and supposing it to be that of Sanford, 
who had all this time remained standing with him, 
turned round, and was surprised to find that, in- 
stead, it was the hand of the President, who had 
entered the room while the discussion was going on. 

Lincoln, still with his hand on the captain's 
shoulder, said to Stanton: "Mr. Secretary, I 
think you must be mistaken about this young 
man neglecting his duties, for I have been a daily 
caller at General McClellan's headquarters for 
the last three or four months, and I have always 
found Eckert at his post. I have been there 
often before breakfast, and in the evening as well, 
and frequently late at night, and several times 
before daylight, to get the latest news from the 
army. Eckert was always there, and I never ob- 
served any reporters or outsiders in the office." 

135 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Governor Brough of Ohio, who had known 
Eckert before, in connection with a telegraph- 
Hne on Brough's ( Belief ontaine) railroad in Ohio, 
which Eckert had inspected and rebuilt about 
1857, happened to be in the Secretary's room 
while Eckert was uttering his denial of the 
charges against him, and after Lincoln had fin- 
ished his statement, Brough went up to Eckert, 
took his hand, and addressed him in a most cor- 
dial manner. Then turning to Stanton, he told 
him that he would vouch for anything that Eck- 
ert would say or do; that he believed him to be 
the ablest and most loyal man who could be se- 
lected for the place. 

Stanton was so impressed by the intercession 
of Lincoln, Sanford, and Brough that he quietly 
took from his desk a package of papers, and 
opening one said, "I believe this is your resigna- 
tion, is it not, sir?" 

Captain Eckert said it was; whereupon Stan- 
ton tore it up and dropped the pieces on the floor. 
He then opened another paper and said, "This 
is the order dismissing you from the army, which 
I had already signed, but it will not be executed." 
He then tore up the order of dismissal, and said : 
"I owe you an apology, Captain, for not having 

136 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

gone to General McClellan's office and seen for 
myself the situation of affairs. You are no 
longer Captain Eckert; I shall appoint you . 
major as soon as the commission can be made out, 
and I shall make you a further acknowledgment 
in another manner." 

So, from that Sunday afternoon, in February, 
1862, until just before the close of the war, 
Eckert's military title and the one by which he 
was best known was "Major." The additional 
acknowledgment referred to by Secretary Stan- 
ton, consisted of a horse and carriage, purchased 
for Eckert's use in the performance of his official 
duties. 

The day after the interview described above, 
Stanton detached Eckert from McClellan's staff, 
and ordered him to make his office in the War 
Department, and to connect all wires with that 
building, leaving only enough instruments at 
army headquarters to handle the separate busi- 
ness of the commanding general. This order 
naturally offended McClellan, and it was doubt- 
less one of the influences which operated to create 
or increase the bad feeling between him and Stan- 
ton, which was never allayed. 



137 



X 



THE FIRST DRAFT OF THE EMANCIPATION PROCLA- 
MATION 

UN^TIL very recently it has not been known, 
except by a few persons, that Lincoln wrote 
the first draft of the Emancipation Proclama- 
tion while seated at Eckert's desk in the cipher- 
room of the War Department telegraph office. 
Some of the incidents connected with the writing 
of that immortal document have now been re- 
corded by Eckert, as follows: 

"As you know, the President came to the office 
every day and invariably sat at my desk while 
there. Upon his arrival early one morning in 
June, 1862, shortly after McClellan's 'Seven 
Days' Fight,' he asked me for some paper, as 
he wanted to write something special. I pro- 
cured some foolscap and handed it to him. He 
then sat down and began to write. I do not recall 
whether the sheets were loose or had been made 
into a pad. There must have been at least a 

138 



EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION 

quire. He would look out of the window a while 
and then put his pen to paper, but he did not 
write much at once. He would study between 
times and when he had made up his mind he 
would put down a line or two, and then sit quiet 
for a few minutes. After a time he would resume 
his writing, only to stop again at intervals to 
make some remark to me or to one of the cipher- 
operators as a fresh despatch from the front was 
handed to him. 

"Once his eye was arrested by the sight of a 
large spider-web stretched from the lintel of the 
portico to the side of the outer window-sill. This 
spider-web was an institution of the cipher-room 
and harbored a large colony of exceptionally big 
ones. We frequently watched their antics, and 
Assistant Secretary Watson dubbed them 'Major 
Eckert's lieutenants.' Lincoln commented on 
the web, and I told him that my lieutenants would 
soon report and pay their respects to the Presi- 
dent. Not long after a big spider appeared at 
the cross-roads and tapped several times on the 
strands, whereupon five or six others came out 
from different directions. Then what seemed to 
be a great confab took place, after which they 
separated, each on a different strand of the web. 

139 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Lincoln was much interested in the performance 
and thereafter, while working at the desk, would 
often watch for the appearance of his visitors. 

"On the first day Lincoln did not cover one 
sheet of his special writing paper (nor indeed on 
any subsequent day). When ready to leave, he 
asked me to take charge of what he had written 
and not allow any one to see it. I told him I 
would do this with pleasure and would not read 
it myself. 'Well,' he said, 'I, should be glad to 
know that no one will see it, although there is no 
objection to j^our looking at it; but please keep 
it locked up until I call for it to-morrow.' I said 
his wishes would be strictly complied with. 

"When he came to the office on the following 
day he asked for the papers, and I unlocked my 
desk and handed them to him and he again sat 
down to write. This he did nearly every day for 
several weeks, always handing me .what he had 
written when ready to leave the office each day. 
Sometimes he would not write more than a line 
or two, and once I observed that he had put ques- 
tion-marks on the margin of what he had written. 
He would read over each day all the matter he 
had previously written and revise it, studying 
carefully each sentence. 

140 



EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION 

"On one occasion he took the papers away with 
him, but he brought them back a day or two later. 
I became much interested in the matter and was 
impressed with the idea that he was engaged 
upon something of great importance, but did not 
know what it was until he had finished the docu- 
ment and then for the first time he told me that 
he had been writing an order giving freedom to 
the slaves in the South, for the purpose of hasten- 
ing the end of the war. He said he had been able 
to work at my desk more quietly and command 
his thoughts better than at the White House, 
where he was frequently interrupted. I still have 
in my possession the ink-stand which he used at 
that time and which, as you know, stood on my 
desk until after Lee's surrender. The pen he 
used was a small barrel-pen made by Gillott — 
such as were supplied to the cipher-operators." ^ 

On July 1, 1862, a call for three hundred thou- 

^ Frank B. Carpenter in his "Six Months at the White House," 
p. 20 et seq., quotes from Lincoln's own account thus :"...! now 
determined upon the adoption of the emancipation policy; and, 
without consultation with, or the knowledge of, the cabinet, I pre- 
pared the original draft of the proclamation, and, after much 
anxious thought, called a cabinet meeting upon the subject, . . . 
The result was that I put the draft of the proclama_tion aside as 
you do your sketch for a picture, waiting for victory . . . From 
time to time I added or changed a line, touching it up here and 
there . . ." 

141 * 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

sand additional troops had been issued, but there 
was more or less anxiety as to the result of 
the call. On July 12, Lincoln convened the 
Representatives from the border states and dis- 
cussed with them his second "Appeal to favor 
compensated emancipation." On July 14, 
twenty of the delegation signed their reply. On 
July 22, the draft of the proclamation was laid 
before the cabinet for the first time. On Septem- 
ber 13, Lincoln, in an address to a committee 
from the churches of Chicago, who urged him to 
issue a proclamation of emancipation, said "... I 
can assure you that the subject is on my mind by 
day and night more than any other. Whatever 
shall appear to be God's will, I will do . . ." 

At this time Antietam had just been fought 
and won and Lee's army was escaping across the 
Potomac, much to the disappointment of Lin- 
coln, who telegraphed McClellan, on September 
15, to "destroy the rebel army if possible." 
The failure to do that when the chances seemed so 
favorable may, therefore, be considered as the im- 
mediate cause of Lincoln's sudden decision to lay 
the Emancipation Proclamation before his cab- 
inet, for the second time, wliich was done on 
September 22. 

142 



EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION 

Chase's diary of that date says that Lincoln 
read to the cabinet from Artemus Ward's humor- 
ous account of the "High-handed Outrage at 
Utica," and enjoyed it very much as did the 
others "except Stanton, of course." 

The text of the Proclamation was given to the 
press that night, and was published throughout 
the country the following day. Of course there 
was wide-spread comment and criticism, most of 
it favorable, but some unfavorable; and the sub- 
ject was very freely discussed between that time 
and January 1, 1863, when the Emancipation 
Proclamation became effective. 

Tinker tells of an occurrence on the evening 
of that day when, after a long, tiresome public 
reception at the White House, at which the 
President was obliged to stand for hours shaking 
hands with all sorts of people, he came over 
to the telegraph office, settled himself in his 
accustomed place at Eckert's desk, and, 
placing his feet on a near-by table, relaxed 
from the strain and fatigue of the day. 
General Halleck and Assistant -Secretary Fox 
of the navy were present, with a number of 
others who had dropped in to learn if there was 
any news from Rosecrans, who was then engaged 
» 143 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

in what at that time seemed almost a death strug- 
gle with Bragg. Tinker says that he was en- 
gaged in translating a long cipher-despatch from 
General Grant, who was then between Memphis 
and Milliken's Bend, and also one from Rose- 





a=ssm ' 


aPHES 

OPERATOBS 

CtSK 








1 




TA6l£ 


1 rf^ 






" 1 








Drawn by R. G. Page 

Plan of the cipher-room in the War Department telegraph office 
Made from data supplied by General Thomas T. Eckert 

crans in Tennessee, when Lincoln came in. 
For a while Tinker paid no attention to the con- 
versation in the room. Presently, however, Lin- 
coln began to tell of an occurrence in Pekin, Illi- 

144 



EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION 

nois, before his election ; but after a while he hesi- 
tated at a name he was trying to recall, but could 
not, which, however. Tinker well knew, having 
been employed as telegraph operator in Pekin at 
the very time of which Lincoln was speaking. 
The President resumed his story, but again 
stopped, remarking, as he ran his long fingers 
through his disheveled hair to awaken thought, 
"I wish I could remember that name." Where- 
upon Tinker, with some trepidation, suggested, 
"Mr. President, permit me to ask if it is not 
Judge Puterbaugh?" Tinker then adds, in his 
account of the incident: "Lincoln turned upon 
me in great surprise and fairly shouted, 'Why, 
yes, that 's the name. Did you know him?' Gain- 
ing confidence, I replied, 'Yes, sir, down in Pekin, 
where I once had the honor of explaining to the 
future President of the United States the work- 
ing of the Morse telegraph, in the telegraph office 
in the Tazewell House.' Lincoln, his face full of 
pleased surprise, then turned to his audience, and 
exclaimed, 'Well, is n't it funny that Mr. Tinker 
and I should have met 'way out in Illinois before 
the war, and now again here in the War Depart- 
ment telegraph office ?' He then proceeded to tell 
how and when we had first met, and that, being at 

145 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

that time specially interested in the telegraph, 
which was comparatively new and still a subject 
of wonder to the great majority of people, he had 
asked me how it worked and that I had given him 
a full explanation of its mysteries. After this 
interruption Lincoln resumed his story and I re- 
turned to my translation of Grant's and Rose- 
crans's cipher-messages. As this was the day on 
which the final decree of the Emancipation Proc- 
lamation was issued I recall with the utmost 
pleasure the incident above referred to." 

No one would have supposed from Lincoln's 
perfectly composed manner at the time that he 
had that day given to the world a document of 
imperishable human interest, which meant so 

^ The site of this building was Pennsylvania Avenue at the corner 
of 17th Street. It was erected about 1820 and was torn down in 
1879 to make way for the new State, War, and Navy Building. The 
two windows, one on each side of the Maltese cross, afforded an out- 
look on Pennsylvania Avenue from the room occupied by the cipher- 
operators during the Civil War. Next to the right-hand window 
stood Major Eckert's desk, at which Mr. Lincoln almost always 
sat when at the Telegraph Office and on which he wrote the first 
draft of the Emancipation Proclamation. He spent more time in 
this room during the last four years of his life than in any other 
place, the White House only excepted. The room to the left of 
the cipher-operators' room was occupied by Major Johnson, custo- 
dian of military telegrams. The corner room was Secretary Stan- 
ton's own office. The five windows under the portico to the right 
of the cipher-operators' room belonged to the old library room of 
the War Department, in which was the Telegraph Office proper, 
where all Government messages were sent and received. 

146 



n 
c 
SI 



B 



£. 
5' 




EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION 

much to the country, and especially to four mil- 
lions of slaves, whose shackles were forever 
loosed. 

The effect upon the public mind of the Emanci- 
pation Proclamation was, of course, not the same 
in all sections. By the radicals it was welcomed 
as one of the most important acts of the Presi- 
dent since the war began, while the conservative 
element feared it would prove ineffective in the 
North, and would lead to reprisals on the part of 
the enemy. In New York City the draft riots, 
culminating on July 15, 1863, had a curious re- 
lation to the color question, the wrath of the 
malcontents being to a large extent vented 
upon the negro race, whose members were in an 
unreasoning way apparently held responsible in 
the last analysis for the draft. 

In the border states the lines were sharply 
drawn between the military and the loyalists on 
the one hand, and Southern sympathizers and for- 
mer slave owners on the other. 

In the summer of 1863, Mr. Richard O'Brien, 
one of the three operators who went to Washing- 
ton with me in April, 1861, was stationed at Nor- 
folk, Virginia, as chief operator. There still re- 
mained in that city, which had fallen into our 

149 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

hands a year previously, a number of persons 
whose sympathies were naturally with the South, 
and so, on July 11, 1863, when colored troops 
first arrived in the city, its members were cheered 
by no outburst of welcome but were met by the 
cold, repellent gaze of men, women and children 
who crowded the streets to witness the unwelcome 
sight. Dr. David M. Wright, a leading and repu- 
table citizen, in some way or other got into an 
altercation with one of the white officers, Lieu- 
tenant Anson L. Sanborn, from New England. 
Suddenly the sound of a shot broke the silence, 
and Sanborn, a lad in years, fell to the ground, 
killed by a shot fired by Dr. Wright, who was 
arrested with the still smoking revolver in his 
hands. The following telegram gives the bare 
facts : 

Norfolk, July 11, 1863. 
Major-General John A. Dix: Lieut. Anson L. Sanborn 
of the 1st Colored Regiment was shot at the head of his 
Company in Main Street this p.m., by Dr. Wright and died 
immediately. Dr. Wright is in jail, heavily ironed. 

A. E. BovAY, 
Major and Provost Marshal. 

Dr. Wright was promptly tried by court-martial, 
convicted, and sentenced to be hanged. Rich- 
ard O'Brien's younger brother, John Emmet 

150 



EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION 

O'Brien, was also employed as operator at Nor- 
folk, and Dr. Wright had once attended him for 
a slight injury. He was therefore specially in- 
terested in the case. Dr. O'Brien (now and for 
many years a prominent physician of Scranton) 
says that Dr. Wright's brave and devoted daugh- 
ter visited her father one evening and exchanged 
clothes with him, so that he walked out of prison 
past the guards, and might have escaped, had not 
an officer in the street, who had observed the mas- 
culine stride of the supposed woman, stopped 
him and sent him back to his cell. 

Knowing Lincoln's merciful nature, numerous 
petitions were soon on their way to Washington, 
asking for the pardon or reprieve of Dr. Wright. 
One was signed by ninety-five "Citizens of Nor- 
folk," upon the receipt of which Lincoln sent the 
following telegram : 

Washington, D. C, Aug. 3, 1863. 

Major General Foster, Fort Monroe: If Dr. Wright, on 
trial at Norfolk^ has been or shall be convicted, send me a 
transcript of his trial and conviction, and do not let execu- 
tion be done until my further order. A. Lincoln. 

General Foster answered, stating that the trial 
had been concluded and that the proceedings had 
been forwarded to the President. 

151 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Meantime other petitions were received urging 
that Dr. Wright be "restored to his home and 
family," and protesting that he was insane when 
he committed the deed. Dr. John P. Gray of 
Utica, a celebrated alienist, was selected to make 
an examination of Dr. Wright's mental condi- 
tion, and on September 10, the President had a 
long interview with Dr. Gray, who left at once 
for Norfolk, with Lincoln's autograph letter of 
instructions in his pocket. Upon Dr. Gray's re- 
turn with a report that he found no evidence of 
insanity, the President, having considered all the 
testimony, approved the sentence of the court and 
telegraphed General Foster as follows: 

October 15, 1863. 

Postpone the execution of Dr. Wright to Friday October 
23rd inst. This is intended for his preparation and is final. 

A. Lincoln. 

Still the friends of Dr. Wright did not give 
up hope of executive clemency, but bombarded 
the President with telegrams and letters. The 
Confederate government was also besieged by 
some of the doctor's friends in the South, who 
presented an application dated Edenton, N. C, 
August 7, 1863, addressed to President Davis, 

152 



EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION 

signed by Mrs. Starke A. Righton, asking that 
efforts be made to secure clemency for Dr. 
Wright. This communication was indorsed by 
Secretary of War James A. Seddon, expressing 
deep sympathy and referring to the "natural 
indignation of Dr. Wright at the shameful spec- 
tacle, and his prompt vindication of his honor." 
On September 1, 1863, President Davis wrote 
the Hon. Thomas Bragg, at Raleigh, "I would 
gladly do anything in my power to rescue him 
from an enemy regardless alike of the laws and 
customs of civilized people." 

On October 22, the day before the time fixed 
for the execution, my comrade, Richard O'Brien, 
was approached by a man who said that if he 
would anticipate a telegram which was hourly 
expected from President Lincoln granting a re- 
prieve, he would be paid $20,000 in gold, and 
would be given a free passage to England on a 
blockade runner. O'Brien indignantly refused 
the bribe. 

October 23 dawned, and still no telegram from 
the President, and at 11 : 20 a.m.. General Foster 
telegraphed to General Halleck, "Dr. Wright 
was executed this morning." 



153 



XI 

THE GETTYSBURG AND VICKSBUEG YEAR 

THE year 1863, which began with the issue 
of the final draft of the Proclamation giv- 
ing freedom to four million slaves, and the wel- 
come news of Rosecrans's victory over Bragg 
at Stone's River, did not long continue to supply 
favorable incidents, for Hooker's defeat at Chan- 
cellorsville at the beginning of May, and the 
raids of the enemy down the Shenandoah Valley 
into Maryland and Pennsylvania, with Grant 
still held at bay by Pemberton at Vicks- 
burg, led to a loss of confidence. In some 
quarters there was actual discouragement. 
Louis Napoleon was causing anxiety to the 
administration by his efforts to keep the Arch- 
duke Maximilian on his newly erected Mexican 
throne. 

On March 30, Lincoln for the second time ap- 
pointed a day of fasting and prayer (for April 
30).^ On June 15 he found it necessary to call 
for 100,000 additional troops, the drafting of 

* Lincoln's first proclamation of a fast day was dated August 19, 
1861 (for September 5). 

154 



THE GETTYSBURG AND VICKSBURG YEAR 

the quota from New York City causing bloody 
riots. 

But meantime, a glimmer of hope had been 
kindled by the false news received on May 24, of 
the capture of Vicksburg. Tinker's diary of that 
date, savs : 

I have just finished copying, and have delivered to the 
Secretary of War, the despatch telling us of the capture of 
Vicksburg. The President, Secretary Seward, Senator 
Doolittle, and Judge Whiting have just come in and are all 
talking so loudly I can hardly write. 

Lee's invasion of Maryland in June had 
greatly increased the anxiety felt by the Presi- 
dent, especially as communication with our army 
was frequently interrupted. All the news we 
received dribbled over a single line of wire via 
Hagerstown; and when Meade's headquarters 
were pushed beyond that place through the ne- 
cessity of following Lee's advance, we lost tele- 
graphic connection altogether, only regaining it 
by the Hanover Junction route, a day or two 
later. From that point to Hanover there was a 
railroad wire. Thence to Gettysburg the line 
was on the turnpike, and the service was poor and 
desultory. Lincoln was in the telegraph office 
hour after hour during those anxious days and 
nights, until, on the morning of July 4, he 

155 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

penned his welcome announcement to the country 
that Meade had won a notable victory. 

However, as further news from the scene of 
action reached him Lincoln began to realize that 
Meade was likely to lose much of the fruit of his 
hard-earned victory by allowing Lee's army to 
escape across the Potomac. So he still kept close 
to the telegraph instrument during the succeed- 
ing days. But even after leaving the office his 
thoughts returned to it lest something should be 
left undone to insure decisive success, for at 7 
P.M. on July 6 he sent a telegram from the Sol- 
diers Home to General Halleck saying : 

I left the telegraph office a good deal dissatisfied. . . . 
These things all appear to me to be connected with a pur- 
pose to . . . get the enemy across the river again without 
a further collision. . . . 

When Lincoln came to the office the next 
morning, he received Grant's despatch announc- 
ing the capture of Vicksburg with many thou- 
sand prisoners, and this welcome news coming so 
soon after Meade's victory at Gettysburg revived 
his spirits and led him eight days later to issue 
his second thanksgiving proclamation, naming 
August 6 as a "day for national thanksgiving, 
praise and prayer." 

156 



THE GETTYSBURG AND VICKSBURG YEAR 

Nevertheless, Lincoln's thoughts were still 
with Meade, and in his note to General Halleck 
stating that Vicksburg had surrendered he said: 

. . . Now, if General Meade can complete his work so 
gloriously prosecuted thus far, by the literal or substantial 
destruction of Lee's army, the rebellion will be over. 

Not^\dthstanding the urgency of the telegrams 
from Lincoln and Halleck, Meade did not seem 
disposed to hurry, but, finally, on July 12, his 
despatch reached the War Department stating 
his "intention to attack the enemy to-morrow, un- 
less something intervenes." My colleague. 
Chandler, relates that when this message was re- 
ceived by Lincoln, he paced the room wringing 
his hands and saying: "They will be ready to 
fight a magnificent battle when there is no enemy 
there to fight." Lee recrossed the Potomac that 
night, and Meade did not attack him, and on 
July 15, the very day on which the thanksgiving 
proclamation was issued, Lincoln wrote his his- 
toric despatch to ex- Secretary Cameron, then 
at Meade's headquarters (see page 55), say- 
ing: 

. . . Please tell me, if you know, who was the one Corps 
Commander who was for fighting, in the council of war on 
Sunday night.^ 

1 This was the night of the second day's fighting at Gettysburg. 

157 



XII 



LINCOLN^S TENDER TREATMENT OF ROSECRANS 



IN August, 1863, while Rosecrans was engaged 
in the preliminary movements leading up to 
the battle of Chickamauga, and after the fighting 
was known to be in progress, Lincoln, as at other 
critical periods, remained in the telegraph ofHce, 
sometimes for hours, waiting for the latest news 
respecting what was then felt to be one of the 
most serious crises of the war. For three or four 
days the tension was very great, the President, 
Secretary Stanton and General Halleck confer- 
ring together almost constantly. Prior to this 
period, Rosecrans seems to have reached the con- 
clusion that he did not possess the full confidence 
of the Administration, and in fact he did not, but 
he fancied the situation was worse than it really 
was, this impression being deepened by Halleck's 
censorious letters. In reply to a communication 
from Rosecrans, Lincoln wrote him a most en- 

158 



LINCOLN^S TREATMENT OF ROSECRANS 

couraging letter on August 31, 1863, in which he 
said: 

... I repeat that my appreciation of you has not abated. 
I can never forget, whilst I remember anything, that about 
the end of last year and beginning of this, you gave us a 
hard earned victory, which, had there been a defeat instead, 
the nation could scarcely have lived over. Neither can I 
forget the check you so opportunely gave to a dangerous 
sentiment which was spreading in the North. 

The significance of this reference to Rose- 
crans's success eight months before at Stone's 
River, after two days of fierce fighting, with 
heavy losses on both sides, lay in the belief on the 
part of the Administration, that certain European 
governments, notably France and Great Britain, 
had virtually promised to recognize the Con- 
federacy, if it should win one more substan- 
tial victory before the end of 1862. The result of 
the Stone's River battle shattered that hope and 
explains Lincoln's strong words to Rosecrans. 

One authority for the above statement regard- 
ing Em'opean recognition of the Confederate 
States, is Lieut-Col. Horace N. Fisher, in his his- 
torical paper printed in the proceedings of the 
Society of the Army of the Cumberland, held 
at Indianapolis, September 20, 1904. Colonel 
Fisher says, "According to an eminent Confed- 

159 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

erate general/ who was promoted to a confiden- 
tial position at Richmond after losing a leg at 
Stone's River, that battle was fatal to the hope 
held out by European governments of the recog- 
nition of the Confederate independence, if they 
should win one big battle before the end of 1862." 
Lincoln's closing sentence in his telegram to 
Rosecrans, about "a dangerous sentiment which 
was spreading in the North," also needs a word 
of explanation, which is supplied by an officer 
who was frequently at Rosecrans's headquarters 
during the period referred to. 

An effort was being made by the Democrats to nominate 
prominent military men for office throughout the country, 
so as to take them from the field and tempt them to forget 
their loyalty to the Government and thus make it easier to 
recognize the South and let the erring brethren go. A dele- 
gation of prominent Ohio Democrats called on General 
Rosecrans at Murfreesboro' in the spring of 1863 and made 
a tremendous onslaught on him to secure his consent to be- 
come a candidate for Governor of Ohio, with the expectation 
that if successful there he might go a step higher later on. 
The delegation was very secretive at first with Rosecrans, 
and he finally broke out in his impulsive way and demanded 
their plans. When they were uncovered, he gave them a 
most vigorous tirade and in language stronger than polite, 
suggested their leaving the camp and returning to a more 

^ The Lieut. -Governor of Tenn. — A. S. Marks — so stated in his 
speech at the Reunion of the Society of the Array of the Cumberland 
at Chattanooga in 1889. He was the officer referred to. 

160 



LINCOLN'S TREATMENT OF ROSECRANS 

congenial clime. Garfield^ as Rosecrans's chief of staff, was 
informed of the whole transaction, although the delegation 
tried to pledge Rosecrans in advance against communicating 
with Garfield or any others of his staff. 

A part of the Democratic plan seemed to have been to 
run General McClellan as a popular military man for the 
presidency (which was in fact done in 1864), and to make 
as many as possible of the successful general officers Demo- 
cratic candidates for governors in the Northern States, such 
as Indiana, Ohio and New York, by which means they hoped 
it would be possible to divide and weaken the patriotic senti- 
ment then existing. 

Three weeks after the President's encouraging 
message to Rosecrans, and after the sanguinary 
battle of Chickamauga (in which the losses were 
in two days proportionately larger than in the 
three days' fighting at Gettysburg), when Rose- 
crans left the field for Chattanooga in utter de- 
spondency, supposing the day to be lost, Assis- 
tant Secretary of War Dana, to whom had been 
assigned the task of keeping the Administration 
fully posted on military matters in the West, tele- 
graphed to the War Department ( September 20, 
1863) doleful accounts of the situation of affairs. 
Rosecrans later on the same day telegraphed the 
President, "We have no certainty of holding our 
position." Lincoln thereupon sent these further 
words of encouragement : 
^« 161 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

September 21, 1863. 

Be of good cheer, we have unabated confidence in you 
s . . We shall do our utmost to assist you. . . . 

But while thus trying to put backbone into 
Rosecrans, the President himself was worried 
and anxious. He had been sending message 
after message to Burnside at Knoxville, urg- 
ing him to go to the relief of Rosecrans. Al- 
though Burnside in each case answered that he 
would comply witli the order, he still dallied, and 
on the very day when Rosecrans sent his despair- 
ing message, Burnside telegraphed the President 
that he had gone to Jonesboro to clear out a force 
of the enemy that had been annoying him in that 
direction. 

Meantime the distressing reports from both 
Rosecrans and Dana were not fully confirmed, 
because George H. Thomas, upon whom the 
general command devolved when Rosecrans 
personally retired from the front to Chattanooga, 
had rallied his troops, reformed his broken lines, 
and after six or seven hours of desperate fighting, 
had compelled Bragg to assume the defensive, 
thus preventing him from following up his early 
advantages. Thomas withdrew our almost de- 
feated army in good order to Rossville and finally 

162 



LINCOLN^S TREATMENT OF ROSECRANS 

reached a position of natural safety for the time 
being at Chattanooga. The President's anxiety, 
however, continued to be very great, for on 
September 22, he telegraphed Rosecrans that no 
word had been received from him for thirty-six 
hours, adding: "Please relieve my anxiety as to 
position and condition of your army up to the 
latest moment." 

On the following day, still not hearing from 
Rosecrans, and wishing to encourage him, he tele- 
graphed a copy of Bragg's despatch to the Rich- 
mond authorities, which Grant had culled from a 
Richmond newspaper, the President adding: 
"You see he (Bragg) does not claim as many 
prisoners or captured guns as you were in- 
clined to concede. He also confesses to heavy 
loss." 

Then, on September 24, he telegraphed Mrs. 
Lincoln, who was in New York City visiting 
friends, a pretty full summing-up of the battle 
of Chickamauga, mentioning that among six 
Confederate generals killed was her brother-in- 
law. Helms of Kentucky. So the anxious days 
passed, rivaling those of a year before, when 
Pope's Virginia campaign had ended so disas- 
trously, for while Rosecrans's army was safe, it 

163 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

was only so for the time being. Bragg was being 
rapidly reinforced from Virginia and it became 
evident that prompt relief must be given to our 
army at Chattanooga or it would be cut off by the 
enemy. That relief was given in the remarkable 
manner set forth in chapter XIII by the trans- 
fer of 23,000 men. under Hooker, from Virginia 
to Tennessee. 

The heavy reinforcement rendered our position 
at Chattanooga entirely secure. In fact it was 
soon discovered that the battle of Chickamauga 
in its final results was more of a victory for the 
Union cause than a defeat as first supposed; for 
the enemj^ suffered greater losses than we did, 
and reaped no ultimate advantage; while our re- 
inforced army, soon to be placed under the com- 
mand of Grant (who, two weeks later, was ap- 
pointed to succeed Rosecrans ) , took the offensive, 
and in November whipped Bragg almost to a 
finish. 

Meantime, the general military situation being 
more satisfactory, the President, on October 3, 
1863, issued his proclamation setting apart the 
last Thursday of November as a day of thanks- 
giving and praise. This is memorable, because 
it was the second occasion within three months 

164 



LINCOLN'S TREATMENT OF ROSECRANS 

when a national thanksgiving was appointed 
by presidential proclamation, to be observed, as 
the historic document is worded: "by my fellow 
citizens in every part of the United States and 
also those who are at sea and those sojourning in 
foreign lands." 

This proclamation is remarkable not only as 
exhibiting his implicit reliance upon an "ever- 
watchful God," but for beauty of phrase, and log- 
ical belief in an overruling Providence. For in- 
stance, after reciting the blessings of fruitful 
fields, healthful skies, bountiful harvests, untold 
wealth in our mines and productive industries, 
harmonious foreign relations, and the success at- 
tending our armies in the field, he says in the 
spirit of an old scriptural herald and seer: "No 
human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal 
hand worked out these great things. They are 
the gracious gifts of the most high God, who, 
while dealing with us in anger for our sins, 
hath nevertheless remembered mercy." He 
then commends to the tender care of our benefi- 
cent Father who dwelleth in the heavens, 
"all those who have become widows, orphans, 
mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil 
strife." 

165 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

No ruler of millions, since King David the 
Psalmist, has clothed great thoughts in sublimer 
language. 

The great victories of the combined armies un- 
der Grant, in and about Chattanooga, including 
the capture of Orchard Knob by the Army of the 
Cumberland, November 23, 1863; the capture of 
Lookout Mountain by troops of the armies of the 
Potomac and Cumberland, under Hooker, on the 
24th, and the wonderful assault and capture of 
Missionary Ridge by the Army of the Cumber- 
land under Thomas on the 25th, came in time to 
make Lincoln's third national thanksgiving the 
greatest day of rejoicing the people had expe- 
rienced since the war began. 

The first national thanksgiving proclamation 
ever issued in the United States was dated April 
10, 1862. The second was dated July 15, 1863, 
setting apart August 6, as a day of thanksgiving 
for recent victories, particularly those of Vicks- 
burg and Gettysburg. Thanksgiving Day, prior 
to that time, had been generally observed in the 
New England and Middle States only, but since 
1863 the custom inaugurated by President Lin- 
coln has been followed, of having the last Thurs- 
day in November of each year set apart as a na- 

166 



LINCOLN'S TREATMENT OF ROSECRANS 

tional day of thanksgiving in all the States of the 
Union. 

On many occasions, telegrams from irrespon- 
sible persons were received at the War Depart- 
ment, generally addressed to the President, criti- 
cizing the Administration, or some of the gener- 
als in the army, and volunteering advice concern- 
ing political and military matters. One of these 
free-lance advisers, named Maxwell, lived in 
Philadelphia, and scarcely a month passed in 
which he did not telegraph direct to the Presi- 
dent. My memory recalls several of these tele- 
grams. I will quote two only as fair samples of 
many others. 

During Burnside's unsuccessful campaign be- 
fore Fredericksburg late in 1862, there was a great 
deal of newspaper talk about certain of his gen- 
erals, formerly under McClellan, being out of 
sympathy with and jealous of Burnside; and the 
court-martial of Fitz-John Porter then in prog- 
ress had as a basis for its charges the contention 
that Porter failed to promptly support Pope in 
August, 1862, because of his partizan friendship 
for McClellan. The President showed no sur- 
prise when he received the following telegram 
from his unknown adviser : 

167 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Philadelphia, December 19, 1862. 
His Excellency A. Lincoln, President. 

Richmond campaign, Franklin remaining, foregone con- 
clusion. Robert A. Maxwell. 

^o reply was made to this foolish despatch, nor 
to several others which were afterward received 
from Maxwell. But at the time of the New 
York draft riots these despatches were ex- 
changed : 

Philadelphia, July 15, 1863. 
A. Lincoln, President. 

Albert Gallatin Thorp, informed me that Seymour is 
well controlled beyond safe limits. Why hesitate.'* 

Robert A. Maxwell. 

Washington, D. C, July 15, 1863. 
RoBT. A. Maxwell, Philadelphia: 

Your despatch of to-day is received, but I do not under- 
stand it. A. Lincoln. 

Maxwell's despatch no doubt had reference to 
Governor Seymour of New York, who at that 
time — during the progress of the draft riots, 
which culminated on that day, July 15, 1863,— 
was supposed, at least by the War Department 
officials, to be in sympathy with the Confederate 
government, and particularly with the efforts of 
their Northern agents, Jacob Thompson and 

168 



LINCOLN'S TREATMENT OF ROSECRANS 

others in Canada, to incite opposition in the 
North to the Administration, and to hinder the 
draft, then being enforced under Lincoln's proc- 
lamation of June 15, 1863, for one hundred 
thousand men, for six months' service. 

The next Maxwell telegram of record was as 
follows : 

New York City, 1 :30 p.m., September 23, 1863. 
His Excellency A. Lincoln, President: Will Buell's 
testamentary executor George Thomas ever let Rosecrans 
succeed? Is Bragg dumb enough to punish Thomas se- 
verely and disgracingly .'' , Robert A. Maxwell. 

The President held this impertinent telegram un- 
til his evening visit to the War Department. 
Meantime, no doubt thinking that some defense 
of General Thomas by the Administration might 
serve to allay the already evidently wide-spread 
distrust and anxiety, he wrote the following de- 
spatch at the White House and brought it to the 
telegraph office and handed it to Tinker for 
transmission : 

"Cypher" 

Executive Mansion, Washington, Sep., 23, 1863. 
Robert A. Maxwell, New York: I hasten to say that in 
the state of information we have here, nothing could be 
more imgracious than to indulge any suspicion towards Gen. 

169 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Thomas. It is doubtful whether his heroism and skill ex- 
hibited last Sunday afternoon, has ever been surpassed in 
the world. A. Lincoln. 

But the message had been in Tinker's hands onl}'' 
a few minutes, when Lincohi came over to the ci- 



&>/^'n" (£.7iccutivt iilnnsiou. 



■~/7'.,/;, „/, , 5^vC, o^j; 



I- i ? ' ■ " ■ 




1 

I 




J 



Facsimile (reduced) of the despatch to Robert A. Maxwell, which 
Lincoln wrote for transmission, but soon after countermanded 

The orifrinal is in the possession of Mrs. Frances Breckenridge Kellogg, widow of 

Colonel Sanford Cobb Kellogg (formerly of General Thomas's staff). Mrs. 

Kellogg has kindly consented to its publication in this history 

pher-desk and said, "I guess I wiU not send this ; 
I can't afford to answer every crazy question 
asked me." 

Thereafter, adopting Lincoki's description, we 
always referred to these officious despatches as 
"crazj^grams." Tinker, of course, did not send 

170 



LINCOLN'S TREATMENT OF ROSECRANS 

the message which Lincoln had written, and 
deeming it of curious interest as a memento, pre- 
served it carefully with a copy of the message 
from Maxwell. Several years afterward, he met 
General Thomas in Washington, and thinking he 
would be especially gratified to see and possess 
the documents, he had the pleasure of delivering 
them into Thomas's hands at Willard's Hotel, 
Washington, with a letter, of which the following 
is a copy : 

May 27, 1867. 
Major-General George H. Thomas, 
General : I have had in my possession since the day it was 
written, a telegram penned by our late beloved President. 
Its history is this. Robert Maxwell, a quixotic individual, 
residing in Philadelphia, has during the war, and since, 
humored a propensity for addressing dictatorial and sensa- 
tional despatches to the President, his cabinet and promi- 
nent officials of the Government. By those who were fa- 
miliar with his character, no consideration was accorded 
them. On receipt of one of these, a copy of which I 
enclose, the President wrote a reply, which he handed to me 
for transmission, but afterwards concluded not to send. 
I have preserved this precious autographic document, hop- 
ing some time to be honored with an opportunity to present 
it to you in person, to whom it justly belongs — a priceless 
tribute to a noble hero, whose dauntless courage on that 
fateful day saved the Army of the Cumberland. 
Very Respectfully Yours, 

Charles A. Tinker, Cipher Operator, 
War Dept. Telegraph Office. 

171 



XIII 

A REMARKABLE FEAT IN RAILROAD TRANSPORTA- 
TION 

AS stated in the previous chapter, Rosecrans's 
k- army had succeeded in reaching Chatta- 
nooga, a place of natural safety, but with deci- 
mated numbers and an extended line of com- 
munication with its base of supplies. Bragg's 
army, amply reinforced, resumed the offen- 
sive, and Rosecrans became greatly alarmed 
lest he should be besieged by Bragg and starved 
out. Charles A. Dana, who was with Rosecrans, 
also became demoralized and his letters and tele- 
grams to Washington were gloomy and disheart- 
ening.^ Lincoln and Stanton were both greatly 

^ The following extract is from an article by Charles A. Dana on 
Chickamauga, which appeared in "McClure's Magazine" for 
December, 1897, p. 353. 

"I had not sent him [Stanton] any telegrams in the morning 
[Sept. 20, 1863], for I had been on the field at Rossville with Rose- 
crans and part of the time at some distance from the Widow 
Glenn's where the operators were at work. The boys kept at their 
post there until the Confederates swept them out of the house. 
When they had to run they went instruments and tools in hand, 
and as soon as out of reach of the enemy set up shop on a stump. 

172 



FEAT IN RAILROAD TRANSPORTATION 

impressed with the gravity of the situation, but 
hoped that things were not so bad as represented. 
Instead they grew worse, until, on September 23, 
after Lincoln's encouraging message to Rose- 
crans, several particularly pessimistic cipher-de- 
spatches were received from Rosecrans and 
Dana, which led Stanton to decide that heroic 
action was needed; so he sent a messenger to 
Lincoln, at the Soldiers Home, with copies of 
the alarming despatches, asking that a cabinet 
meeting be called immediately to consider the 
steps necessary to prevent a great disaster to our 
army. 

Mr. Carnegie, in his Kenyon College address 
on "Stanton, the Patriot/' (April 26, 1906,) re- 
ferring to this incident, says that, "startled by 
the summons, the President mounted his horse 
and rode to Washington in the moonlight to pre- 
side over the cabinet." 

It was not long before they were driven out of this. They next 
attempted to establish an office on the Rossville road, but before 
they had succeeded in making connections a battle was raging 
around them and they had to retreat to Granger's Headquarters 
at Rossville. . . . 

"Having been swept bodily oif the battlefield and having made 
my way into Chattanooga through a panic-stricken rabble, the 
first telegram I sent to Mr. Stanton was naturally colored by what 
I had seen and experienced. I remember that I began the des- 
patch by saying, 'My report to-day is of deplorable importance. 
Chickamauga is as fatal a name in our history as Bull Run.' " 

173 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

When Lincoln reached the War Department,^ 
Halleck, who had been called in conference, was 
asked how long it would take to move two army 
corps from Virginia to Tennessee. Halleck re- 
plied that, in his opinion, it would take nearly 
three months to comj^lete the transfer. This 
was a great disappointment to Lincoln and Stan- 
ton, especially as both Rosecrans and Dana had 
meantime sent further appeals for help, repeat- 
ing the expression of their fear that unless relief 
came quickly, the enemy might cut off our com- 
munications. 

When Eckert brought in the later despatches 
he was asked by Stanton what he knew of rail- 
road routes to Chattanooga. His former rail- 
road experience enabled him to supply im- 
portant data, and when told of Halleck's three 
months' estimate, he promptly demurred and said 
it was much too long; that sixty days or per- 
haps even forty would be sufficient. Eckert 
was thereupon instructed to submit a written 
report that night. Naturally such an order 
placed him in an embarrassing position with rela- 
tion to Halleck, but he was on his mettle, and 

1 John C. Hatter the messenger, now of Brooklyn, returned with 
the President. 

174 



FEAT IN RAILROAD TRANSPORTATION 

while the cabinet was discussing the grave con- 
tingency, the cipher-operators and their chief 
were busy examining railroad schedules and 
maps. 

It was found that from Washington to Nash- 
ville, seven days were required for the movement 
of fast freight traffic, passenger trains, of course, 
taking much less time. 

Tinker's diary says: 

September 23, 1863. Long despatches from Dana and 
Rosecrans. Reinforcements to be sent from Army of Po- 
tomac. Left Office 1 1 :30 p.m., Eckert and Bates still at 
work. 

Sept. 24. Eckert and Bates in office all night. Presi- 
dent and cabinet are there arranging to reinforce Rose- 
crans. Hooker going with 19^000 men. 

Lincoln and Stanton waited in the building 
until after daybreak, and at 2:30 a.m., Septem- 
ber 24, Meade was ordered by telegraph to pre- 
pare two army corps, the 11th and 12th, under 
Hooker, to be sent to Washington immediately, 
with five days' cooked provisions; their baggage 
to go with them; artillery ammunition, horses, 
etc., to follow quickly. At 10:45 a.m. Meade an- 
swered that "every effort will be made to have 
the troops designated ready to move," By 8 a.m. 
Eckert had his report ready, and, after discuss- 

175 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

ing it with Assistant Secretary Watson, took it 
to Stanton's room. When the latter read it and 
learned that Eckert allowed only fifteen days, 
instead of his previous hastily expressed opinion 
of "sixty and perhaps forty," he jumped for joy 
and began eagerly to ask for details. His first 
inquiry was, "How do you propose to get so 
large a number of men, with batteries and horses, 
across the river at Louisville safely and quickly?" 
Eckert replied that at that season the Ohio River 
was full of coal barges, loaded and empty, and 
that a pontoon bridge could be got ready in 
twenty-four hours. The next question was, 
"How will you feed the hosts without losing 
time?" Answer was made that the Quartermas- 
ter's Department could establish a force of cooks 
and waiters every fifty miles or so along the route 
and at each eating station a supply of hot coffee, 
bread, etc., with waiters, could be put on the train 
and be carried to the next eating-place, and the 
waiters could then come back to their starting- 
point on regular trains. The plan was so well 
laid and withal so sensible, that Lincoln and 
Stanton both indorsed it, subject to the approval 
of the railroad authorities and military officials. 
Meantime, urgent telegrams had been sent the 

176 



FEAT IN RAILROAD TRANSPORTATION 

night before to Garrett and Smith of the Balti- 
more & Ohio, Felton of the Philadelphia, Wil- 
mington & Baltimore, and Scott of the Penn- 
sylvania railroads, to come to Washington by 
first train. McCallum, general manager of mili- 
tary railroads, and Whiton, his assistant, were 
brought into conference. 

McCallum, while approving the general plan, 
would not bind himself to the low estimate of 
fifteen days, but agreed to exert every effort to 
approximate that limit, and thereupon the for- 
mal order was given by Stanton, with Lincoln's 
approval, to begin the movement in accordance 
with the telegram to Meade a few hours earlier. 

An essential part of the plan was to have the 
Government take military control of all railroads 
on the route, so that every required facility would 
be subject to the orders of the War Department. 
This was, of course, accepted by the railroad 
authorities, and from the moment the orders 
were given for the great movement, every one 
involved in it was kept busy day and night. 

At 9 A.M., September 24, General Meigs, 
Quartermaster- General, telegraphed from Nash- 
ville that he would look after matters from that 

end and cooperate with the railroad people. At 
11 j,^^ 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

* 

10 A.M., Garrett and Smith of the Baltimore 
& Ohio railroad, reached the War Depart- 
ment. McCallum went by special train to 
Meade's headquarters and telegraphed the 
following: "Will commence loading 17,000 
men at Bristow (thirty-seven miles south of 
Washington) to-morrow morning" (Septem- 
ber 25). 

Scott, of the Pennsylvania Railroad, received 
Stanton's telegram at night somewhere on the 
road, and started by special train for Washing- 
ton, where he arrived about 1 p.m., September 24, 
with Felton of the Wihnington road, and hur- 
ried to the War Department. After reading 
Eckert's report and learning what had already 
been done, and listening to Stanton's impassioned 
appeals for haste, Scott quietly remarked, in his 
quick decisive manner, that Eckert's time could 
be met and the transfer effected — perhaps sooner 
than fifteen days. To those now living who 
knew Thomas A. Scott in his prime, such a state- 
ment will convey a world of meaning. It was 
most welcome to the President and Secretary of 
War, and especially gratifying to Eckert. 
Scott remained at the War Department not 
more than an hour, returning to his special 

178 



FEAT IN RAILROAD TRANSPORTATION 

train which had been kept ready at the sta- 
tion and which took him at fast speed to 
Louisville. While en route, he kej^t the wires hot 
with brief, imjDerative messages to his subordi- 
nates and officials of connecting roads, ordering 
cars to be hurried to Washington for the trans- 
portation of men, baggage, ammunition, cannon 
and horses to Tennessee. Reaching Louisville, 
he sent this message : 

Louisville, September 26, 1863, 2:30 p.m. 

Secretary of War, 

Washington, D. C. 

Arrangements for ferriage of troops across Ohio River 
completed. Thos. A. Scott. 

To make a long story short, the entire move- 
ment, counting from the hour when the first 
train-load left Bristow Station, Thursday, Sep- 
tember 25, until the last train arrived at Chatta- 
nooga, October 6, was completed in eleven and a 
half days, or three and a half less than Eckert's 
low estimate, and two and a half months less 
than Halleck's figures. The distance by rail 
from Bealeton, Virginia — below Bristow Station 
— to Chattanooga, Tennessee, is 1233 miles. 

In Carnegie's Kenyon College address he gives 
the time as seven days, but this is obviously an 

179 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

error if we consider the movement from start to 
finish. 

On October 1, this telegram was sent: 

Col. Thomas A. Scott, 

Louisville. 

Tell me how things have advanced, as far as you know. 

A, Lincoln. 

Scott's reply was satisfactory, and while the 
great movement was in progress, and when it 
was seen that it would be a success, the following 
despatch was sent : 

Colonel Thomas A. Scott, 

Louisville. 

Your work is most brilliant. A thousand thanks. It is 
a great achievement. Edwin M. Stanton. 

Similar messages of congratulation and thanks 
were sent to all the other railroad officials con- 
cerned. The records show that the total number 
of men in the two army corps was 23,000, instead 
of 19,000, as at first estimated. 

The reinforcements thus given to Rosecrans 
were ample and timely, and served to place his 
army in an impregnable position. Such a feat 
was unprecedented and will long be referred to 

180 



FEAT IN RAILROAD TRANSPORTATION 

by railroad men as the record of marvelous 
accomplishment in the way of transportation of 
large bodies over single track railroads. 

Meantime, the Confederates were kept in- 
formed of the proposed movement by means of 
secret agents in Washington, as shown by the fol- 
lowing despatches : 

.Signal Office, Richmond, Va., Sept, 30, 1863. 
Hon. Jas. A. Seddon, Sec. of War, Richmond, Va. 

Sir: — I have the honor to inclose copy of despatch just 
received at this office from Washington from a source which 
may be considered reliable. Very respectfully, 

Wm. Norris, 
Maj. & Chf. Sig. Corps. 

Sept. 25, 1863. The 11th Army Corps, 30,000 strong is 
at Alexandria; is to be forwarded at once to the relief of 
Rosecrans. General Meade, if circumstances demand it, 
will fall back on Washington. The President has tele- 
graphed Railroad Presidents to meet here and it is said they 
are already here. The troops are to be hurried through 
on shortest time. There is immense trepidation here with 
the "powers that be" in regard to Rosecrans. General 
Meade is already, it is said, at Warrenton. Recent inform- 
ation shows that two of Meade's Army Corps are on the 
move. Large numbers of troops are at the cars now loaded 
with cannon. There is no doubt as to the destination of 
these troops, part for Rosecrans and perhaps for Burnside. 
Eleventh Army Corps commanded by General Howard — the 
Dutch Corps. A. Howell. 

181 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Sept. 27j, 1 86s. It is reported that Joe Hooker is in com- 
mand of these troops and their destination is the White 
House. 1 The troops are at the Relay House this evening. 

Orange Court House, Va., Sept. 28, 1863. 

Hon. Jefferson Davis, President, Richmond, Va. 

A report was sent to me yesterday from Shenandoah 
Valley, which if true furnishes additional reason for prompt 
action on the part of General Bragg. It is stated that 
General Slocum's and Howard's Corps, under General 
Hooker, are to reinforce General Rosecrans. They were to 
move over the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and to commence 
on the night of the 25th. ... R. E. Lee, General. 

Orange Court House, Va., Oct. 3, 1863. 
Hon. Jefferson Davis, President, Richmond, Va. 

A despatch from Major Gilmor last night states that re- 
inforcements for Rosecrans have all passed over the Balti- 
more & Ohio Railroad. The force composed of Slocum's 
and Hooker's Corps, estimated at between 20 and 25,000 
men. He states he made several attempts to break the 
railroad but could accomplish nothing. . . . 

R. E. Lee, General. 

1 Note. This is evidently an error. Author. 



182 



XIV 

LINCOLN IN EVERY-DAY HUMOR 

THERE were many angles in Lincoln's char- 
acter. That which he showed in the tele- 
graph office was the personal, homely side as dis- 
tinguished from the business, political, or literary 
side. The cipher-operators saw him at close 
range, and in his most anxious hours, amid the 
excitement of great military movements, with 
their attendant horrors: the clash of arms, the 
carnage of the battle-field, the groans of the dy- 
ing and the tears of loved ones. We also met him 
in the calmer but no less trying hours of patient 
waiting for the slow development of wide-reach- 
ing plans for the preservation of the Union. 

I do not presume to speak of Lincoln as a poli- 
tician, as a statesman, or as a born and trained 
leader of men, although he was preeminent in 
each of these roles; nor as a story-teller, with all 
that such a term meant in his day; but I do wish 
to emphasize that personal trait of his which has 

183 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

impressed itself upon me more forcibly than 
any other, namely, his kindly, charitable dis- 
position, which was especially shown toward his 
political opponents and his country's enemies. 

In his second inaugural, March 4, 1865 — that 
remarkable address, which Carl Schurz likens to 
a "sacred poem" — he made use of words which in 
their beautiful setting are immortal: "With 
malice toward none; with charity for all." This 
simple phrase is probably quoted more frequently 
than any other from Lincoln's writings, just as 
General Grant is referred to so often in his sen- 
tentious remark, "Let us have peace," which is 
graven on the portal of his tomb. 

Reference being made by some one in the tele- 
graph office to Lincoln's inveterate habit of story- 
telling, he said that he really could not break 
himself of it; that it had been formed in his 
younger days, and later he found it difficult to 
refrain from clinching an argument or emphasiz- 
ing a good point by means of a story. He said 
his case was like that of the old colored man on 
the plantation, who neglected his work in order 
to preach to the other slaves, who often idled their 
time away listening to the old man's discourses. 
His master admonished him, but all to no pur- 

184 



LINCOLN IN EVERY-DAY HUMOR 

pose, for the good old man had the spirit of the 
gospel in him and kept on preaching, even when 
he knew the lash awaited him ; but finally he was 
ordered to report at the "big house," and was 
berated soundly by his master and told that he 
would be punished severely the very next time 
he was caught in the act of preaching. The old 
man, with tears in his eyes, spoke up and said, 
"But, marsa, I jest cain't help it; I alius has to 
draw infrunces from de Bible textes when dey 
comes into my haid. Does n't you, marsa?" 
This reply interested his master, who was a re- 
ligious man, and who said, "Well, uncle, I 
suspect I do something of that kind myself at 
times, but there is one text I never could under- 
stand, and if you can draw the right inference 
from it, I will cancel my order and let you preach 
to your heart's content." "What is de tex', 
marsa?" " 'The ass snuff eth up the east wind.' 
Now, uncle, what inference do you draw from 
such a text?" "Well, marsa, I 's neber heered 
dat tex' befo', but I 'spect de infrunce is she 
gotter snuff a long time befo' she git fat." 

During some of Lincoln's daily visits to the War 
Department, there were many spare moments 
while he waited for fresh news from the front or 

185 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

for the translation of cipher-messages, and when 
he did not fill up the otherwise idle time by telling 
stories, he would read aloud some humorous arti- 
cle from a newspaper, as, for instance, Orpheus 
C. Kerr's droll reports from Mackerelville, or 
Petroleum V. Nasby's letters in sarcastic vein; 
at other times Artemus Ward's inimitable lec- 
tures. Some of Nasby's letters were irresistibly 
funny, especially those relating to the continuous 
struggle for the post-office at "Confedrit Cross 
Roads," and to the backwardness of some of our 
generals. Others referred to the great excite- 
ment caused by the discovery of flowing oil-wells 
in Pennsylvania, whereby great and sudden 
wealth had come to many formerly poor farmers 
and others in that region. One catch phrase 
which Lincoln especially enjoyed repeating was, 
"Oil 's well that ends well." He was particularly 
fond of David R. Locke (Nasby), whom he first 
met in 1858 in Quincy, Illinois. In 1863 he 
wrote a letter to Locke in appreciation of one of 
Nasby's humorous articles, and ended the letter 
with this inquiry: "Why don't you come to Wash- 
ington and see me?" Locke accepted the invita- 
tion and spent a delightful hour with the Presi- 
dent, during which we may imagine the two 

186 



LINCOLN IN EVERYDAY HUMOR 

humorists "swapped stories" to their hearts' 
content. 

Beekwith, Grant's cipher-operator, says that 
on April 6, 1865, the day after Lincoln's re- 
turn from Richmond, Lincoln was in Colonel 
Bowers's tent at City Point in happy humor 
over Grant's successes, and that he quoted 
from memory Artemus Ward's account of 
the escape of the Polly Ann on the Erie 
Canal when being chased by pirates. The part 
of the story to which I^incoln called special atten- 
tion was where one of the crew of the Polly Ann, 
carrying a bag of oats, ordered the pilot to "heave 
to" and when the vessel "huv to" the sailor went 
ashore and scattered the oats liberally along the 
tow-path. After this was done the vessel went on 
her way and when the mules of the pirates' craft 
reached the oats, no amount of persuasion could 
induce them to proceed until the oats had all been 
consumed; and so the Polly Ann escaped. Lin- 
coln was interrupted at this point of the recital by 
the entrance of Secretary Harlan but immedi- 
ately resumed, saying, "Now, gentlemen, that 
was true strategy because the enemy was diverted 
from his real purpose." 

He then, without waiting for comments, began 

187 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

again the study of the map of Virginia in con- 
nection with several despatches that Beckwith 
had just brought in from Grant's pursuing col- 
umns. 

Orpheus C. Kerr's effusions were on a differ- 
ent line from either Ward's or Nasby's, but were 
equally laughable ; for instance, when at the close 
of an exciting campaign in which the Mackerel- 
ville army had bravely marched several miles one 
day and had been engaged in an impossible bat- 
tle, it was gravely stated that "Victory has once 
again perched upon the banners of the con- 
queror." Lincoln would stop his reading to 
laugh with us at these foolish expressions. He 
greatly enjoyed this sort of humor, especially 
when it was directed against the faults of our 
generals, or even when in the form of criticisms 
upon his own public acts or those of his cabinet. 
In fact, he dearly loved to twit some of his official 
family by calling attention to newspaper refer- 
ences of a humorous character reflecting upon 
their administration or personal peculiarities, and 
to those of us who watched him day after day it 
was clear that the telling of stories and the read- 
ing of droll articles gave him needed relaxation 
from the severe strain and heavy burden resting 

188 



LINCOLN IN EVERYDAY HUMOR 

upon him, leading his mind away from the awful 
incidents of the war that were ever present — the 
bloody battles and loss of life, the execution of 
deserters, the mistakes and jealousies of his gen- 
erals, and the criticisms of the daily press, often 
unjust and sometimes disloyal. 

On the night of November 8, 1864, while Lin- 
coln with a number of his cabinet-officers and 
others were in the telegraph office awaiting the 
presidential election returns, he took from his 
inside pocket a small pamphlet containing some 
of Nasby's effusions, and at intervals read aloud 
to the company various extracts. Charles A. 
Dana, in his "Reminiscences," says that Secre- 
tary Stanton was indignant that the President 
should give attention to such trifling subjects at 
important moments when, as it appeared to him, 
the destinies of the country hung in the balance, 
but Lincoln had a method in this apparent fool- 
ishness. Frank B. Carpenter, the artist who 
painted the Emancipation Proclamation group, 
says that Lincoln remarked, in reply to a criticism 
similar to Stanton's, "that if it were not for this 
occasional vent I should die." After the bloody 
battle of Fredericksburg, where 11,000 of our 
men were killed and wounded, he said, "If there 

189 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

is a man out of perdition who suffers more than I 
do, I pity him." ^ 

So we may now look back over the stretch of 
years and better reahze than we did then the re- 
lief which the repetition of humorous and even 
frivolous stories brought to his tired body and 
harassed brain. Oftentimes indeed in those days 
of stress he would lean back in his chair, with his 
feet upon a near-by table, and relapse into a seri- 
ous mood, idly gazing out of the window upon 
Pennsylvania Avenue, that great thoroughfare 
over which he had seen so many brave soldiers 
march to the front never to return. In these in- 
tervals of repose Lincoln's face was a study; the 
inherent sadness of his features was evident even 
to us youngsters. Indeed, it was sometimes pa- 
thetic. We often wondered of what he was think- 
ing; but he would not long remain idly pensive. 
Soon he would come out of the clouds, his expres- 
sive face would light up, and he would make 
some humorous remark as Stanton entered 
the room, or as he observed one of the cipher- 
operators make a movement toward the little 
drawer in which the incoming despatches were 
filed. 

^ See also "Lincoln on His Own Story-Telling," by Silas W. Burt, 
in "The Century Magazine" for February, 1907. 

190 



LINCOLN IN EVERY-DAY HUMOR 

Lincoln's stories were never long, but they were 
always funny and laughter-provoking, and usu- 
ally effective in their purpose of proving a point 
or answering an objection. They were homely 
and old-fashioned, which terms well express their 
general character. This is only natural and to be 
expected, in view of his rude surroundings in early 
life, before the telegraph had done more than 
thread its slender way through the forests and 
over the prairies of our broad land, bringing in its 
later development the current news of the world 
for the enlightenment of the masses, and calling 
for attention with each successive edition of the 
daily press. In those almost primitive days of our 
nation's history, the post-office, the country store, 
and the court-house, were the rendezvous, espe- 
cially of the young men who, ten or twenty years 
later, would be the leaders of public opinion ; and 
around the blazing fire in these places of resort 
during the winter days and nights, or on the 
street or sidewalk close by in the summer-time, 
were congregated the talkers and listeners of the 
town, and the man who could hold his own in 
argument, or command the attention of the 
crowd, whether politics, religion, or gossip was 
the topic of discussion, was the one most ready 

191 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

with a story to illustrate a point or parallel some 
other story that had just commanded a general 
laugh. In these trials of wit and humor, Lin- 
coln, iProm all accounts, must have been easily 
first. The habits thus formed held their grip 
upon him even to the end; for in his last 
public address, on the evening of April 11, 
1865, which he delivered from the porch of the 
White House, and which I had the pleasure of 
listening to on my way home from the War De- 
partment, he made this remark concerning the 
progress of reconstruction measures in Louisiana : 

Concede that the new government of Louisiana is only 
to what it should be as the egg is to the fowl, we shall sooner 
have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it. 

This form of argument left no sting behind it ; 
and the opponents of his Louisiana reconstruc- 
tion plan, at least those of his own political party, 
must have admitted later that his policy of "mal- 
ice toward none ; with charity for all," was supe- 
rior to theirs. , 

A great many anecdotes and stories have been 
attributed to Lincoln. It is certain that not all 
so called were his ; indeed, it is probable that most 
of them were not. As the years go by, it is be- 

192 



LINCOLN IN EVERY-DAY HUMOR 

coming more and more difficult to decide which 
are genuine ; that is to say, those which originated 
with Lincoln or were known to have been re- 
peated by him. Many stories said to be Lincoln's 
were no doubt his own by right of first telling, 
others may also be called his because of his apt 
selection and manner of telling, with his own 
unique wording and application ; but it is proba- 
ble that by far the larger number of such stories 
now current are associated with his name merely 
because he happened to be present when they 
were told by some one else. 

It is natural also that in the re-telling of some 
really genuine stories, even by those who heard 
them from his own lips, there will be numerous 
variations, one instance being the Cave of Adul- 
1am incident told by Nicolay and Hay (Vol. IX. 
p. 40). Their version is not the same as mine, 
which is given below. 

On May 30, 1864, the Cleveland Independent 
Convention met, and on the following day nomi- 
nated Fremont and Cochrane for president and 
vice-president respectively. This was an uncon- 
stitutional selection, because both candidates were 
from the same State — New York. The conven- 
tion was organized and controlled by a lot of 
^2 193 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

ultra patriots, sore-heads and cranks, who held 
the most divergent opinions on political and mili- 
tary affairs; but they were all agreed in con- 
demning Lincoln's conduct of the war and his 
administration generally, and they all professed 
to believe that there was no hope for the country 
save through an entire change of policy. Even 
"The New York Herald," of May 31, the morn- 
ing after the convention assembled, used this 
language in an editorial: 

As for Lincoln, we do not conceive it possible that he can 
be reelected after his remarkable blunders of the past three 
or more years. 

The Northern press generally, however, was 
favorable to Lincoln, and a great deal of ridicule 
was cast upon the convention and its heterogene- 
ous and discordant elements by the newspapers 
and the public. 

On June 1, the "Herald's" report of the pro- 
ceedings of the day before began thus : 

The Cleveland Convention opened to-day with some 350 
to 400 delegates in attendance. 

My record shows that in the evening, at the 
War Department, the "Herald's" report above 
referred to, just received from New York, was 

194 



LINCOLN IN EVERY-DAY HUMOR 

read aloud, and Lincoln at once asked for a Bi- 
ble. Mr. Stanton's private secretary, Major 
Johnson, went to get a copy, and not finding one 
immediately, came back to apologize for the de- 
lay, and then went out again in further search of 
the desired volume. Presently he returned with 
an open Bible in his hands, and presented it to 
the President in his most polite manner. 

Lincoln then opened the Bible at I Samuel 
xxii, 2, and, referring to the "Herald's" report 
of the number of delegates in the convention 
(350 to 400), read aloud to us this verse: 

And every one that was in distress, and every one that 
was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered 
themselves unto him ; and he became a captain over them : 
and there were with him about four hundred men. 

Nicolay and Hay say that the incident oc- 
curred in the White House on the morning after 
the convention, when a friend who called on the 
President remarked upon the fact that instead of 
thousands, who had been expected, there were in 
fact at no time more than 400 present, and that 
Lincoln, being struck by the number mentioned, 
reached for the Bible that usually lay on his desk, 
and turned to the verse above quoted in order to 
verify the number composing King David's band, 

195 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

and then read it aloud. Nicolay and Hay make 
no reference to the "Herald" report. Which 
version is the correct one may never be certainly 
known. Perhaps both may be. My account 
makes no mention of Nicolay or Hay, and, in 
fact, those gentlemen seldom came to the War 
Department with Lincoln. It may well be that 
Lincoln looked up the verse in the Bible in 
the White House, as well as in the telegraph 
office. 

The well known Cave of Adullam reference 
by John Bright in the British Parliament was in 
1866 and had no relation to Lincoln's particular 
application of the Scriptural incident i.e., to the 
number (400) composing the band of discon- 
tents. 

Some of Lincoln's stories here recorded were 
told by him in my hearing, others were repeated to 
me shortly after the telling, and some at a later pe- 
riod by my comrades in the telegraph office, who 
claimed to have heard them from Lincoln him- 
self, and I believe therefore that, subject to 
these qualifications, they are all genuine; 
although I have heard it stated that all cur- 
rent standard jokes can be traced back to an- 
tiquity, one leading type for instance furnish- 

196 



LINCOLN IN EVERYDAY HUMOR 

ing the basis for innumerable variations in suc- 
cessive periods of time. This theory was pro- 
pounded by Solomon long ago, when he said, 
"There is no new thing under the sun. Is there 
any thing whereof it may be said. See, this is 
new? it hath been already of old time, which was 
before us." So it seems probable that some of 
Lincoln's stories, genuine though we may be- 
lieve them to be, were current before his 
time; for instance, the one with the Ken- 
tucky flavor referring to the brand of whisky 
which General Grant's enemies protested he used 
with too much freedom. Lincoln disclaimed this 
story in my hearing, stating that King George 
III of England was said to have remarked, when 
he was told that General Wolfe, then in com- 
mand of the English army in Canada, was mad, 
that he wished Wolfe would bite some of his 
other generals. 

Many of Lincoln's stories were in couples, like 
man and wife, one complementing the other; for 
instance, some one spoke of Tom Hood's spoiled 
child, which, as I recall, was represented in a 
series of pictures. First, the nurse places baby 
in an arm-chair before the fire and covers it with 
a shawl to shield it from the heat ; next the fussy 

197 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

aunt comes into the room and, being near-sighted, 
fails to observe the sleeping baby and flops into 
the easy chair when, of course, there is a scream; 
then the nurse enters and rescues the baby from 
the heavy weight of the aunt and holds it in her 
arms edgeways so that when the father of the 
now spoiled child comes in the baby is mashed so 
flat that he does not perceive it. A reference 
being made to Hood's story, Lincoln produced 
its counterpart as follows: 

Scene, a theater; curtain just lifted; enter a 
man with a high silk hat in his hand. He becomes 
so interested in the movements on the stage that 
involuntarily he places his hat, open side up, on 
the adjoining seat without seeing the approach 
of a fat dowager who, near-sighted, like the fat 
aunt of the spoiled child, does not observe the 
open door of the hat. She sits down, and there is 
a crunching noise, and the owner of the spoiled 
hat reaches out to rescue his property as the fat 
woman rises, and holding the hat in front of him 
says: "Madam, I could have told you that my hat 
would not fit before you tried it on." 

In connection with the observance of the first 
national fast day, September 5, 1861, Col. Wm. 

198 



LINCOLN IN EVERYDAY HUMOR 

Bender Wilson, in his "Acts and Actors of the 
Civil War," page 111, gives an account of the 
President's visit to the telegraph office that morn- 
ing. As he entered the room he saw George I^ow, 
one of the junior operators, at work cleaning a 
blue vitriol battery. "Well, sonny, mixing the 
juices, eh?" the President inquired. Then sit- 
ting down and adjusting his spectacles, which 
were specially made with short spring ends to clasp 
the sides of his head just back of his eyes, he be- 
came aware that all the operators were busy, and 
a smile broke over his countenance as he remarked : 
"Gentlemen, this is fast day, and I am pleased 
to observe that you are working as fast as you 
can; the proclamation was mine, and that is my 
interpretation of its bearing upon you. Now, we 
will have a little talk with Governor Morton, at 
Indianapolis. I want to give him a lesson in ge- 
ography. Bowling Green affair I set him all 
right upon ; now I will tell him something about 
Muldraugh Hill. Morton is a good fellow, but 
at times he is the skeeredest man I know of," 
This talk with Governor Morton was in conse- 
quence of the latter's telegram expressing great 
anxiety concerning the Confederate general, Zol- 
licoffer's reported movement toward Louisville. 

199 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Lincoln told JNIorton over the wire that he hoped 
the report was true, as in such event our troops 
would be able to advance and occupy Cumber- 
land Gap, which Lincoln claimed was a very im- 
portant strategical position. 

Earlier in the same month Lincoln, accompa- 
nied by Mr. Seward, dropped into the office with 
a pleasant "Good morning. What news?" Wil- 
son replied, "Good news, because none." Where- 
upon Lincoln rejoined, "All, my young friend, 
that rule does not always hold good, for a fisher- 
man does not consider it good luck when he can't 
get a bite." 

On another occasion Lincoln came to the office 
after dark and asked for the latest news. He was 
told that JNIcClellan was on his way from Arling- 
ton to Fort Corcoran and that our pickets still 
held Ball's Cross-roads and that no firing had 
been heard since sunset. The President inquired 
if any firing had been heard before sunset^ and 
upon being answered in the negative, laughingly 
replied: "That reminds me of the man who, 
speaking of a supposed freak of nature, said, 
'The child was black from his hips down,' and 
upon being asked the color from the hips up, re- 
plied, 'Why, black, of course.' " 

200 



LINCOLN IN EVERYDAY HUMOR 

Another humorous remark by Lincoln about 
this period — late in 1861 — was recorded by my 
comrade Wilson, who has answered my inquiry 
as follows : 

The unvarnished incident was simply this. You, Flesher, 
and I were the three operators regularly on duty at "W D" 
(the office call at that time — a few months later when we 
moved up-stairs into the large "Library" room the call was 
changed to "D I"). We always set apart a large chair for 
the President. One day he came in alone, sat down in his 
chair, and after a few moments arose and walked over to 
the instrument table, and took possession of a vacant chair 
and began writing. Almost immediately there was a call on 
the instrument, and Flesher hurried to answer it and in 
doing so had to lean over Lincoln's shoulder. The Presi- 
dent turned and said," My young friend, have I hunkered 
you out of your chair?" Having heard the word "hun- 
kered" used in the sense of elbowing one out of his place, 
I made a note of the incident as I had previously done in 
the case of his frequent use of the phrase "By jings." 

On one occasion Lincoln, when entering the 
telegraph office, was heard to remark to Secretary 
Seward, "By jings! Governor, we are here at 
last." Turning to him in a reproving manner, 
Mr. Seward said, "Mr. President, where did you 
learn that inelegant expression?" Without re- 
plying to the Secretary, Lincoln addressed the 
operators, saying: "Young gentlemen, excuse me 
for swearing before you. 'By jings' is swearing, 

201 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

for my good old mother taught me that anything 
that had a 'by' before it was swearing." The only 
time, however, that Lincoln was ever heard really 
to swear in the telegraph office was on the 
occasion of his receiving a telegram from 
Burnside, who had been ordered a week 
before to go to the relief of Rosecrans, at 
Chattanooga, then in great danger of an at- 
tack from Bragg. On that day Burnside tele- 
graphed from Jonesboro, farther away from 
Rosecrans than he was when he received the order 
to hurry toward him. When Burnside's tele- 
gram was placed in Lincoln's hands he said, 
"Damn Jonesboro !" He then telegraphed Burn- 
side: 

September 21, 1863. 

If you are to do any good to Rosecrans it will not do to 
waste time with Jonesboro. . . . 

There was popular, many years ago, a pictorial 
book of nonsense to which Lincoln once referred 
in my presence. He said he had seen such a book, 
and recited from it this rime as illustrating his 
idea that the best method of alla\ang anger was 
to adopt a conciliatory attitude. The picture 
shown, he said, was that of a maiden seated on a 

202 



LINCOLN IN EVERYDAY HUMOR 

stile smiling at an angry cow near-by in the field, 
and saying: 

I will sit on this stile 
And continue to smile. 
Which may soften the heart of that cow. 

A few months later, after Lincoln's death and 
the capture of Jefferson Davis, the latter and 
some of his party, including his private secretary, 
Col. Burton N. Harrison, were brought to Fort 
Monroe, their baggage and official papers being 
forwarded to Washington. Secretary Stanton 
ordered this material stored in one of the library 
alcoves in the telegraph room, and the cipher- 
operators were directed to make an inventory. 
Mv father, Francis Bates, a townsman of Mr. 
Stanton and belonging to the same masonic lodge, 
was placed in charge of the property, which, by 
the way, became the nucleus of the Confederate 
Ai'chives Bureau, first presided over by Francis 
Lieber, the historian. In examining the satchel 
of Colonel Harrison, I came across a copy of the 
old book of nonsense above mentioned. Years 
afterward, having business relations with Harri- 
son, I told him of the coincidence, and he ex- 
plained that the volume had been put into his 
satchel by the captain of the gunboat on which 

203 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

he was brought to Fort Monroe, and that it had 
served to while away many idle hours. 

Tinker records that one day Secretary Sew- 
ard, who was not renowned as a joker, said 
he had been told that a short time before, on a 
street crossing, Lincoln had been seen to turn out 
in the mud to give a colored woman a chance to 
pass. "Yes," said Lincoln, "it has been a rule of 
my life that if people would not turn out for me, 
I would turn out for them. Then you avoid colli- 
sions." 

In 1863 Assistant Secretary of War Dana was 
detailed to visit Grant's army in Mississippi, and 
make full reports to the War Department of 
military conditions, which were not satisfactory 
to the Administration. After remaining with 
Grant for a while, Dana went to Tennessee to 
make similar reports regarding affairs in Rose- 
crans's army. Dana's reports by telegraph were 
generally full, and the cipher-operators during 
that period had occasion to consult the dictionary 
many times for the meaning of words new and 
strange to our ears. 

It was an education for us, particularly when 
errors occurred in transmission and words like 
"truculent" and "hibernating" had to be dug out 

204 



LINCOLN IN EVERY-DAY HUMOR 

of telegraphic chaos. Dana's strong, virile man- 
ner of expressing himself on salient questions be- 
came better known to the reading public in the 
last quarter of the nineteenth century. 

While Dana's long despatches, ruthlessly criti- 
cizing or conmiending our generals, were being 
deciphered, Lincoln waited eagerly for the com- 
pleted translations which he would usually read 
aloud with running comments, harsh criticisms 
being softened in the reading. In this way he 
brought his hearers into the current of his 
thoughts. In our cipher-codes there were arbi- 
trary words representing proper names; for in- 
stance, for Jefferson Davis, Hosanna and Hus- 
band; for Robert E. Lee, Hunter and Happy. 
Whenever Lincoln would reach these names in a 
despatch he was reading he would invariably say 
"Jeffy D" or "Bobby Lee," thus indicating at 
once his kindness of heart and love of humor. He 
would seldom or never pronounce their full 
names. ^ 

^It is well right here to refer to Davis's remark in 1875 con- 
cerning Lincoln. In "Our Presidents and How We Make Them," 
Colonel A. K. McClure tells of his visit to Davis in that year. 
He says Davis paid a beautiful tribute to Lincoln. After listen- 
ing closely to what McClure said of Lincoln and his character, 
Davis remarked with earnestness and pathos: "Next to the de- 
struction of the Confederacy, the death of Abraham Lincoln was 
the darkest day the South has ever known." 

205 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

At the annual banquet of the ISIiHtary Tele- 
graph Corps at the Arlington Hotel, Washing- 
ton, on the evening of October 11, 1906, Mr. 
Tinker said : 

I think I had the pleasure of hearing what in all proba- 
bility was the last anecdote ever told by Mr. Lincoln in the 
telegraph office. Early on the morning of April 13, 1865, 
the day before his assassination, he came into the telegraph 
office while I was copjdng a despatch that conveyed impor- 
tant information on two subjects and that was couched in 
very laconic terms. He read over the despatch, and after 
taking in the meaning of the terse phrases, turned to me 
and, with his accustomed smile, said: "Mr. Tinker, that 
reminds me of the old story of the Scotch country girl on 
her way to market with a basket of eggs for sale. She was 
fording a small stream in scant costume, when a wagoner 
approached from the opposite bank and called: 'Good morn- 
ing, my lassie; how deep 's the brook, and what 's the price 
of eggs.^' " 'Knee deep and a sixpence,' answered the little 
maid, who gave no further attention to her questioner." 

Mr. Tinker, continuing his recital, said that 
the President, with a smile still on his sunny face, 
left the office to go into Secretary Stanton's room 
adjoining. 

On one occasion an official letter was received 
from John Wintrup, the operator at Wilming- 
ton, Delaware, on the route of the military line 
from Washington to Fort Monroe. Wintrup 
is still living in Philadelphia. His signature was 

206 



LINCOLN IN EVERY-DAY HUMOR 

written in a rather bold hand with the final letter 
quite large, almost like a capital, and ending in 
flourishes which partly obscured the name itself. 
Lincoln's eye dropped on this letter as it lay on the 



Chc>.7iy^ 




A duplicate of Wintrup's signature 

In 1907 the writer received a letter from his friend Wintrup in the 

ordinary course of business, from which the facsimile 

signature here shown was taken 

cipher-desk, and after satisfying his curiosity as 
to the peculiar signature he said: "That reminds 
me of a short-legged man in a big overcoat, the 
tail of which was so long that it wiped out his 
footprints in the snow." 



207 



XV 



Lincoln's lo\^ for his children 



LINCOLN at all times showed a most tender 
■^ regard for Mrs. Lincoln and great affec- 
tion for his sons (of whom he had four), 
especially for the youngest (born 1853), fa- 
miliarly called "Tad," who was christened 
Thomas, after his paternal grandfather. 

One son, Edward Baker (born 1846) , died be- 
fore the war, and William Wallace (born 1850), 
died in 1862. 

The writer recalls many telegrams written by 
Mr. Lincoln during the war, some signed in Mrs. 
Lincoln's name, others addressed to her, the word- 
ing of which indicated that between husband and 
wife there was deep affection and close confidence. 
One of many cases will serve to illustrate this fact. 

As recorded elsewhere, the President's family 
occupied a small cottage at the Soldiers Home, 
on the outskirts of Washington during the sum- 
mer and autumn months. In the latter part of 

208 



LINCOLN'S LOVE FOR HIS CHILDREN 

1862, Mrs. Lincoln went to Boston to visit some 
friends, and while there Mr. Lincoln sent this 
message : 

Washington, November 9, 1862. 
Mrs. a. Lincoln, Boston: Mrs. Cuthbert and Aunt Mary 
want to move to the White House because it has grown so 
cold at the Soldiers' Home. Shall they? A. Lincoln. 

This deference to Mrs. Lincoln's wishes was 
habitual with him. 

William Wallace Lincoln, always called "Wil- 
lie," was next older than Tad, and I well remem- 
ber his quiet manner and interesting personality 
from having seen him frequently during the sum- 
mer and autumn of 1861, when he was about 
eleven. He died of typhoid fever, February 20, 
1862; and Lincoln's deep sorrow over the loss of 
a second son was evident for months afterward. 
In my war diary, under date of February 11, 
1864, is this entry: 

Last night, when leaving the telegraph office I discovered 
that the White House stables were on fire, and running back 
to the War Department, where there was a call wire, I sent 
an alarm to the fire-engine house above 17th Street. The 
engine responded quickly, but the fire had gained too much 
headway, and the stable and contents were destroyed, in- 
cluding the President's three spans of carriage horses and 
Willie's little pony. 

^^ 209 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

This was two yeajs after the boy's death, but 
his winning ways had made him such a great 
favorite that his pony was still identified with his 
name. In Bishop Simpson's funeral oration, 
when Lincoln's body was brought to Springfield 
in 1865, he made this reference: 

"In his domestic life Lincoln was exceedingly 
kind and affectionate. . . . To an officer of the 
army he said not long since, 'Do you ever find 
yourself talking with the dead?' and then added, 
'Since AVillie's death, I catch myself every day 
involuntarily talking with him as if he were with 
me. 

No other record of this incident has been dis- 
covered by me, but Frank B. Carpenter, the 
artist, in his "Six Months at the White House," 
p. 293, says that on April 14, 1865, the day of 
the assassination, and more than three years sub- 
sequent to Willie's death, Lincoln said to Mrs. 
Lincoln: "We must both be more cheerful in 
the future. Between the war and the loss 
of our darling Wilhe we have been very miser- 
able." 

Here are two telegrams out of a large num- 
ber in which Lincoln referred to his children in 
an affectionate manner. 

210 



LINCOLN ^S LOVE FOR HIS CHILDREN 

August iU, 1864.. 
Mrs. a. Lincoln, Manchester, Vermont: 

All reasonably well. Bob not here yet. How is dear 
Tad.'' A. Lincoln. 

September 8, 1864. 
Mrs. a. Lincoln, Manchester, Vermont: 

All well, including Tad's pony and the goats. 

A. Lincoln. 

On another occasion Lincoln wrote to Mrs. 
Lincoln as follows: 

. . . Tell dear Tad poor Nanny goat is lost. . . . The 
day you left, Nanny was found resting herself and chewing 
her little cud on the middle of Tad's bed, but now she 's 
gone. . . . 

The President's affection for his youngest boy 
was such that they were together much of the 
time, even while the father was receiving callers 
or attending to official business in the White 
House, and nearly always when visiting the army 
at the front or in the defenses around Washing- 
ton. They came to the War Department to- 
gether very often. 

Many stories are told of Tad's mischievous 
pranks, and of his father's close companionship 
with his favorite boy. Tinker records that on 
one occasion Lincoln came into the telegraph of- 

211 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

fice chuckling to himself over a fairy story-book 
that some one had given to Tad, who was holding 
his father's hand as he entered the room. He 
thereupon repeated the story to the cipher-oper- 
ators. It told how a mother hen tried to raise a 
brood of chicks, but was much disturbed over the 
conduct of a sly old fox who ate several of the 
youngsters while still professing to be an honest 
fox; so the anxious mother had a serious talk 
with the old reynard about his wickedness. 
"Well, what was the result?" one of us asked, 
when it appeared that Lincoln did not intend to 
continue his narrative. "The fox reformed," 
said Lincoln, his eyes twinkling, "and became a 
highly respected paymaster in the army, and now 
I am wondering which one he is." The signifi- 
cance of this reference is in the fact that about 
that time there were rumors of fraud in the Pay- 
master's Department. 

My comrade, Madison Buell of Buffalo, New 
York, has given an account of a visit of Lincoln 
to the War Department, accompanied as usual by 
Tad, who wandered through the cipher-office 
into the adjoining room, where the telegraph 
instruments were located, each set (relay, 
sounder, and key) resting on a marble- 

212 



LINCOLN'S LOVE FOR HIS CHILDREN 

topped table. In pure mischief Tad thrust his 
fingers into an ink-well and wiped them across 
several of the white tops, making a horrible mess. 
Buell seized the boy by the collar and marched 
him at arm's length into the cipher-room, where 
his father w^as seated looking over the latest 
despatches which he had taken from the little 
drawer of the cipher-desk. Each one of the trio 
was surprised and a little embarrassed, Buell 
perhaps more so than the other two. Tad held 
up his inky fingers, while Buell, with a look of 
disgust on his face, pointed through the oj)en 
door to the row of marble tops smeared with ink. 
Lincoln took in the situation at once, and with- 
out asking for further explanation, lifted his boy 
in his arms and left the office, saying in a pleas- 
ant tone, "Come, Tad; Buell is abusing you." 

Lincoln went to City Point in March, 1865, 
and, as usual. Tad went with him and remained 
with his father after Mrs. Lincoln returned to 
Washington a week later. Tad became a great 
pet among the officers and men. Each after- 
noon, during their two weeks' stay, the headquar- 
ters' band marched uj) to the open space near the 
President's tent, and played popular airs for an 
hour or so. Tad enjoyed the music of the brass 

213 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

band very greatly, and was on the lookout each 
afternoon when the appointed hour approached. 
As soon as he heard the strains of music in the 
distance he would jump up and down and shout: 
"There comes our band! there comes our band!" 

Robert Todd Lincoln, the President's eldest 
son (born 1843), was even more quiet and re- 
sei'ved in his manner than Willie; and came to 
the War Department with his father very sel- 
dom. He was absent from Washington, at col- 
lege, part of the time during the war, and just 
before its close received the appointment of cap- 
tain, and was assigned to Grant's staff, remain- 
ing with him until Lee's surrender. After the 
war he entered the legal profession. During 
President Arthur's administration he was Secre- 
tary of War and in Harrison's administration 
Minister to England, performing the duties of 
both high offices with signal ability. 

Much has been said about Lincoln being influ- 
enced by his dreams. For instance, it has been 
stated by good authorities, including members 
of his cabinet, that before each of the great bat- 
tles of the war, and also before the occurrence of 
some other specially notable event in his life, he 
had a vivid dream which led him to look forward 

214 



LINCOLN'S LOVE FOR HIS CHILDREN 

at such a t|me with great anxiety for the an- 
nouncement of some disaster, or other incident, 
of a particularly important character. It is re- 
lated that on the night before his assassination he 
had an unusually exciting dream, which he 
thought was a portent of impending danger of 
some sort. That he did have this habit of being 
deeply affected and influenced by these visions 
of the night, is clearly shown by the following 
telegram : 

Washington, D. C, June 9, 1863. 
Mrs. a. Lincoln, Philadelphia: 

Think you had better put Tad's pistol away. I had an 
ugly dream about him. A. Lincoln. 

During the war I was frequently asked by my 
friends and casual acquaintances whether Lin- 
coln was a Christian and a member of church. 
The same question has been asked many times 
since his death. My reply has always been that 
he had a regular pew in Dr. Gurley's Presby- 
terian Church on New York Avenue in Wash- 
ington and that he attended service there fre- 
quently, but that I could not vouch for his creed, 
nor did I know that he was an enrolled member of 
any church. Now, after my daily contact with him 
for four years, and having studied his personality 

215 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICII 

and character, as revealed in his speeches and 
writings, and in the innumerable biographies 
issued since the war ended, I am of the opinion 
that if love be the fulfilling of the law of 
Christ, Abraham Lincoln, in his day and genera- 
tion, was the nearly perfect human example of 
the operation of that law. I do not refer directly 
to his belief in a divine Being, nor in orthodox 
creeds, although his manifold utterances on the 
subject of slavery and his published writings 
must ever proclaim to the thinking world the fact 
that at the very root of his spiritual being he held 
sacred the teachings of the Bible, and his official 
acts while in the presidential office, as well as all 
his utterances, oral and written, when shorn of a 
certain rudeness incident to his homely surround- 
ings in earl}^ life, exemplified those teachings. 

Bishop Simpson, one of Lincoln's closest per- 
sonal friends, said in his funeral oration at Oakwood 
Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois, May 11, 1865: 

He believed in Christ, the Saviour of sinners, and I think 
he was sincerely trying to bring his life into the principles 
of revealed religion. Certainly, if there ever was a man 
who illustrated some of the principles of pure religion, that 
man was our departed President. I doubt if any President 
has ever shown such trust in God, or, in public documents, 
so frequently referred to divine aid. 

216 



LINCOLN'S LOVE FOR HIS CHILDREN 

The four years of the Civil War comprised 
that fateful period of his wonderful career, in 
which the inborn kindliness of his nature was 
taxed to the utmost by the treason of some of his 
former political friends, by the perfidy and 
malice of Northern disloyalists, and by the im- 
patience of certain would-be saviors of the Union, 
who thought the war should be carried on in ac- 
cordance with their narrow ideas; and whatever 
may have been his inmost feelings respecting his 
country's enemies, and his political foes and their 
repeated efforts to sting and crush him, his noble 
heart in its outward expressions, during those 
trying, strenuous days, exhibited only faith, 
hope and charity, and the last most prominently 
of all. 

The crystallized opinion of the generation smce 
Lincoln's death is that his official papers, as well 
as his letters and speeches, are models of clear, 
undefiled English. Some of them, notably his 
Gettysburg speech and second Inaugural Ad- 
dress, are recognized classics, to which coming 
generations may turn for patriotic inspiration 
and education in the best forms of expression for 
great thoughts. But beyond all beauty of form, 
cogent words and irresistible logic, inherent 

217 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

in the body of all his utterances, whether oral or 
written, there was something more ; there was the 
spirit of a simple, great man, the throb of a 
human heart, that had malice for none, 
and charity for all, and loving all, sought to 
protect them from injustice and wrong. He 
never allowed force of logic or beauty of diction 
in choice or arrangement of words to obscure his 
one great purpose to lead men always to hate 
tyranny and love freedom. 

On one occasion when in the office with Lin- 
coln alone, he began to talk of the functions of 
the eye and brain when one was reading aloud 
from a printed page. He said that in his boy- 
hood days he had come across a book in which 
it was stated that as each letter of the alphabet 
and each word or sentence appeared before the 
eye, it was pictured upon the retina so that each 
particular word could be spoken aloud at the 
exact moment when its printed form in the 
volume was reflected upon the eye. He dis- 
coursed at some length upon this marvel, re- 
marking upon the curious fact that the eye is 
capable of receiving simultaneously several dis- 
tinct impressions or a series of impressions con- 
stantly changing as one continues to read across 

218 




Half-tone plate engraved by H. Davidson 



^J>X>>AA/v. 



Secretary of War 1862-1868 

Mr. C. P. Filson, son of the photograplier, writes that this portrait is 
from the last negative of Stanton, wliich was taken by his father, David- 
son Filson, while Stanton was stumping Ohio for General Grant in tlie 
presidential canvass of 1868 




LINCOLN'S LOVE FOR HIS CHILDREN 

the page, and that these numerous and sometimes 
radically different impressions are communicated 
from eye to brain and then back to the vocal 
organs by means of the most delicate nerves ; for 
instance, said he, the eye may rest at the same 
instant not only upon a single letter of the 
alphabet, but upon a series of letters forming 
a given word, and upon a moving procession 
of words in a sentence, and not only that, but the 
resultant record of all these numerous and dif- 
ferent impressions is translated by the brain into 
thought and sent back; telegraphed as it were, 
to the organs of speech, each organ selecting its 
own particular message, the whole sentence then 
being spoken aloud even while the eye is still 
resting upon the printed page. The skilled ac- 
countant casts up a long column of figures as 
fast as his eye moves down the page, and at the 
instant he reaches the end of his column his 
ready fingers jot down the total. In other words, 
he added, communications are being transmitted 
continuously and simultaneously in both direc- 
tions between the outer and inner senses. He 
likened this mysterious, instantaneous and two- 
fold operation to the telegraph, although as re- 
gards the dual process it should be remembered 

221 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

that the invention of duplex telegraphy was not 
brought into use until more than ten years after 
this interesting discourse of Lincoln in the pres- 
ence of his solitary auditor. 

Over thirty years after this incident was re- 
corded in my diary, I found in his "Complete 
Works" (Vol. I, pp. 522-526), a lecture 
on "Discoveries and Inventions," which he deliv- 
ered at various towns in Illinois in 1859, and 
which contained several of the analytical ideas 
which he had mentioned in his talk with me; for 
instance, in his lecture he says, "Run your eye 
over the printed list of numbers from one to one 
hundred ... it is evident that every separate 
letter, amounting to eight hundred and sixty- 
four, has been recognized and reported to the 
mind within the incredibly short space of twenty 
seconds or one third of a minute." 

That entire lecture of Mr. Lincoln's is full of 
interesting ideas, expressed with great clearness, 
and appears to have been the result of a consid- 
erable amount of close study on his part. It 
could well be made a text-book for lyceums and 
schools, its perusal and study suggesting new 
lines of thought and aiding in the formation of 
habits of analysis and logical reasoning from 

222 



LINCOLN'S LOVE FOR HIS CHILDREN 

every-day facts, that could not fail to be of great 
service to each growing generation. 

I am led to mention Lincoln's love of Shak- 
spere because in the winter of 1865, a few months 
before his death, he went a number of times to 
see James H. Hackett play Falstaff, and for a 
week or more he carried in his pocket a well-worn 
copy in small compass of "Macbeth," and one of 
"The Merry Wives of Windsor," selections from 
both of which he read aloud to us in the telegraph 
office. On one occasion I was his only auditor, 
and he recited several passages to me with as 
much interest apparently as if there had been a 
full house. He was very fond of Hackett per- 
sonally^, and of the character of Falstaff, and 
frequently repeated some of the latter's quaint 
sallies. I recall that in his recitation for my 
benefit he criticized some of Hackett's render- 
ings. He wrote a letter to that gentleman on 
August 17, 1863, in which he said: 

For one of my age I have seen very little of the drama. 
The first presentation of Falstaff I ever saw was yours, 
here last winter or spring. Perhaps the best compliment I 
can pay is to say as I truly can, I am very anxious to see it 
again ... I think nothing equals "Macbeth." It is won- 
derful. ... 

A. K. McClure, in his "Life of Lincoln," 

223 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

speaks of the latter's love of the great master and 
mentions an interview between Lincoln, Judge 
Kelley, and an actor named INIcDonough, during 
which Lincoln took from a shelf a well-thumbed 
copy of Shakspere and turning to "Henry IV" 
read with discrimination an extended passage, 
which he said was not surpassed in wit and humor 
by anything else in literature. The omission from 
the acted play of the passage in question was re- 
marked upon by Lincoln as curious. 

All these incidents show an intimate acquain- 
tance with the text of Shakspere's writings and 
not only so, but a keen and discriminating appre- 
ciation of their depth and meaning. While on 
this subject I am reminded of an incident occur- 
ring early in 1864. 

James E. Murdoch of Cincinnati, an actor of 
repute before the war, upon learning that his son 
had enlisted and was in camp at Lancaster, Penn- 
sylvania, went there to say good-by to his boy. 
He whiled away some of his otherwise idle time 
in camp in making patriotic speeches and giving 
recitations, to the great delight of the officers and 
men of the regiment. Afterward he visited other 
regiments and companies at enlistment points 
and also at the front, devoting a large part of 

224 



LINCOLN'S LOVE FOR HIS CHILDREN 

his time for several years to the task of con- 
tributing to the comfort of the soldiers in the 
army through the medium of the United States 
Sanitary Commission. Murdoch's favorite reci- 
tations were the stirring poems of George H. 
Boker, Julia Ward Howe, Francis de Haes Jan- 
vier, and T. Buchanan Read. In 1863, a relative 
or friend of Murdoch was court-martialed for 
sleeping on post, or for some other serious vio- 
lation of military duty, and Murdoch's married 
sister Adelaide visited Washington to intercede 
for the boy's life. A Mrs. Guthrie of Wheeling, 
having known Major Eckert when both were 
children, asked him to secure an interview with 
the President for Mrs. Murdoch. This was 
done, and the appeal was so effective that the 
President pardoned the soldier. Whether this 
man was named William Scott (from Ver- 
mont), whose pardon by Lincoln inspired Jan- 
vier to write his beautiful poem entitled "The 
Sleeping Sentinel," is not recorded. Murdoch, 
in his volume, "Patriotism in Poetry and Prose," 
says of this poem : 

I had the pleasure of reading this beautiful and touching 
poem for the first time to Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln and a se- 
lect party of their friends at the White House, by invita- 

225 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

tion of Senator Foote of Vermont. . . . Its second reading 
was in the Senate Chamber, the proceeds being for the aid 
of our sick and wounded soldiers. 

Soon after the relative (or friend) of 
Murdoch had been pardoned, the latter vis- 
ited Washington and went with Eckert to the 
White House to thank the President in person 
for his merciful act. During the interview Lin- 
coln told Murdoch how much he appreciated his 
splendid work for the Union cause, and added 
that if agreeable he would like him to recite some- 
thing from Shakspere. Murdoch said he would 
prefer to do that on another occasion so that he 
might select something suitable and prepare him- 
self, but that if the President would allow him 
he would then recite a poem entitled "Mustered 
Out," by W. E. Miller. The words are put into 
the mouth of a dying soldier, who in one of the 
verses says : 

I am no saint; 
But, boys, say a prayer. There 's one that begins 
"Our Father," and then says "Forgive us our sins." 
Don't forget that part, say that strongly, and then 
I '11 try to repeat it, and you '11 say "Amen." 

When the poem was finished Murdoch asked 
permission to continue the theme by giving in 
full the Lord's Prayer, and the President, who 

226 



LINCOLN'S LOVE FOR HIS CHILDREN 

was visibly affected by Murdoch's fine rendering 
of the beautiful poem, nodded his assent; Mur- 
doch then began, "Our Father, who art in heaven," 
and in a most reverent and devout manner re- 
peated the whole prayer, Mr, Lincoln audibly join- 
ing in the closing petitions. When he had con- 
cluded, all three of the group were in tears. 
Eckert says that on the following day Murdoch, 
accompanied by the late Mr. Philp (of Philp 
and Solomons), visited Mr. Lincoln and gave 
some readings from Shakspere. On a later occa- 
sion (Feb. 15, 1864), Mr. Nicolay, private sec- 
retary, wrote Murdoch thus : 

My dear Sir: The President directs me to send you the 
enclosed little poem and to request that if entirely conve- 
nient you will please to read it at the Senate Chamber this 
evening. 

The printed inclosure read thus : 

The following patriotic lines were written by one of the 
most distinguished statesmen of the United States in answer 
to a lady's inquiry whether he was for peace. ' ' 

Note by Author, there were in all eight stanzas, the first 
of which only is here quoted, as follows : 

"Am I for Peace.'' Yes! 
For the peace which rings out from the cannon's throat, 

And the suasion of shot and shelly 
Till rebellion's spirit is trampled down 

To the depths of its kindred hell." 

14 227 



XVI 



A BOGUS PROCLAMATION 



ON May 18, 1864, there appeared in two New 
York papers — the "World" and "Journal 
of Commerce" — what purported to be an official 
proclamation, signed "Abraham Lincoln, Presi- 
dent," and attested by William H. Seward, Secre- 
tary of State, calling for a levy of 400,000 men for 
the army, and appointing May 26 as a day of fast- 
ing, humiliation, and prayer for the nation. The 
author of the forgery, for such it proved to be, 
in some of his phrases and wording had copied 
Lincoln's peculiar and forceful style of writing 
so closely, that it is remarkable no more than two 
New York morning papers (to all of whom 
copies were sent) fell into the trap. Without 
burdening this account with the full text of the 
document, it will be sufficient to quote the first 
two paragraphs. 

Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C, May 17, 1864. 
Fellow Citizens of the United States: 

In all exigencies it becomes a Nation carefully to scrutinize 
its line of conduct, humbly to approach the Throne of Grace 
and meekly to implore ft)rgiveness, wisdom and guidance. 

228 



A BOGUS PROCLAMATION 

For reasons known only to Him, it has been decreed 
that this country should be the scene of unparalleled out- 
rage, and this Nation the monumental sufferer of the nine- 
teenth century. With a heavy heart but an undiminished 
confidence in our cause, I approach the performance of 
duty, rendered imperative by sense of weakness before the 
Almighty, and of justice to the people . . . 

Then, after a reference to Grant's Wilderness 
Campaign, the Red River disaster and other miU- 
tary movements, there followed a recommenda- 
tion that the "26th day of May, 1864, be set 
apart as a day of fasting and prayer." The docu- 
ment closed with a call for 400,000 men to be 
raised by draft, if not furnished by volunteering 
before June 15, 1864. 

It was well known to the Northern public that 
Grant's "Wilderness" campaign in Virginia had 
caused an immense loss of life, and that Lee's 
stubborn resistance to the repeated and terrific 
onslaughts of Grant's army indicated a further 
protracted struggle "on that line, if it took all 
summer," so that in a measure the country was 
prepared for an additional call for troops, if the 
President should deem it necessary. But the 
false news had only a transient effect, even upon 
Wall Street, in depressing security values. In 
fact, owing to the alertness of the New York and 

229 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Washington commercial telegraph staff, official 
denial from the authorities at Washington was 
made public so promptly that there was no ap- 
parent effect on the financial markets. Gold rose 
5 or 6 per cent, on that da^^ but fell again as soon 
as the forgery was exposed.^ The author of the 
bogus proclamation must therefore have been 
disappointed at the failure of his scheme in its 
market effect; for his sole purpose, as he after- 
ward confessed, was to cause such fluctuations in 
the prices of stocks, bonds and gold, as to enable 
him and his single confederate to make money. 

The news of the publication of the bogus proc- 
lamation was promptly telegraphed to the War 
Department by the manager of the New York 
telegraph office (Mr. M. S. Roberts), and was 
soon followed by a telegram from General Dix: 

New York, May 18, 1864. 
Hon. W. H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, 
D. C. : A proclamation by the President, countersigned by 
you and believed to be spurious, has appeared in some of 
our morning papers, calling for 400,000 men, and appoint- 
ing the 26th inst. as a day of fasting, humiliation, and 
prayer. Please answer immediately for steamer. 

John A. Dix, Major General. 

* Later gold reached a much higher figure; on October 31, 1864, 
it was 227 and on November 9, the day after the presidential elec- 
tion, it rose to 260. 

230 



A BOGUS PROCLAMATION 

At that time there were no transatlantic ocean 
cables/ News to Europe must therefore be sent 
by steamer, ten days being the usual time occu- 
pied by the passage. The next day, May 19, was 
steamer day, and this explains the closing para- 
graph in General Dix's telegram. 

A conference was at once held in the War De- 
partment, President Lincoln having sent for 
Secretary Seward, who drew up an address to 
the public, which was telegraphed to General Dix 
and distributed to all newspapers, as follows : 

Department of State, Washington, D. C, May 18, 1864. 

To THE Public : A paper purporting to be a proclama- 
tion of the President, countersigned by the Secretary of 
State, and bearing date the 17th day of May, is reported to 
this Department as having appeared in the New York 
"World" of this date. The paper is an absolute forgery. 
No proclamation of that kind or any other has been made 
or proposed to be made by the President, or issued or pro- 
posed to be issued by the State Department, or any other 
Department of the Government. 

William H. Seward, Secretary of State. 

Copy to be sent to the New York press and to Charles 
Francis Adams, U. S. Minister^ London; and William L. 
Dayton, U. S. Minister, Paris, by outgoing steamer. 

Secretary Stanton also telegraphed General 
Dix that "the spurious proclamation was a base 

^ The first cable opened for actual business July 27, 1866. 

231 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

and treasonable forgery." Stanton never minced 
matters in his reference to anything savoring of 
disloyalty to the Government. 

Lincoln wrote a despatch over his own signa- 
ture, extracts from which are given below : 

Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C, May 18, 1864. 

Major General Jno. A. Dix, Commanding, New York. 
Whereas there has been wickedly and traitorously printed 
and published this morning in the New York "World" and 
New York "Journal of Commerce" ... a false and spu- 
rious proclamation, purporting to be signed by the Presi- 
dent, and to be countersigned by the Secretary of State, 
which publication is of a treasonable nature, designed to 
give aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States 
and to rebels now at war against the Government . . . you 
are therefore hereby commanded forthwith to arrest and 
imprison . . . the editors, proprietors and publishers of 
the aforesaid newspapers ... A. Lincoln. 

General Dix had meantime telegraphed the 
result of his preliminary investigation into the 
fraud as follows: 

New York, May 18, 1864. 
Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War: I am investi- 
gating the gross fraud of this morning. The paper pur- 
porting to be a proclamation of the President was handed 
in to the offices of the city newspapers at 4 o'clock (a.m.), 
written on thin manifold paper of foolscap size like the 
despatches of the Associated Press. In handwriting and 
every other respect it was admirably calculated to deceive. 

232 



A BOGUS PROCLAMATION 

It was published in the "World" and "Journal of Com- 
merce." None of the responsible Editors of either of the 
papers was present ... It was printed by the "Herald/' 
but none of the copies was issued, the fraud having been 
discovered before they left the office. ... I think the au- 
thors will be detected, and I need not add that I shall in 
that case arrest and imprison them for trifling in so infa- 
mous a manner with the authority of the Government, and 
the feelings of the community at this important juncture in 

our public affairs. . . . ^ . t^ ,, . >-, , 

John A. Uix, Major General. 



In addition to Seward's address "To the Pub- 
lic," a copy of which was to be sent by steamer to 
our ministers abroad, he sent the following by 
the same means of communication: 

Department of State, Washington, D. C, May 18, 1864. 

Charles Francis Adams, U. S. Minister Plenipotentiary, 
London, England. 

William L. Dayton, U. S. Minister Plenipotentiary, 
Paris, France. 

Orders have been given for the arrest and punishment of 
the fabricators and publishers of the spurious proclama- 

William H. Seward, Secretary of State. 

Colonel E. S. Sanford, Military Supervisor of 
Telegrams, was in New York at the time, and 
attended in person to this part of the business, 
as shown by the following telegram : 

233 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

New York, May 19, 1864. 
Hon. E. M. Stanton, . . . 

I have the honor to report that the Secretary of State's 
despatch to Ministers Adams and Dayton was deliv- 
ered to the Purser of the Scotia^ and that he was ordered 
by Mr. Cunard to telegraph it from Queenstown. Slips 
were issued by some of the morning papers exposing the 
forgery and circulated among the passengers before the 
vessel sailed. 

Although it was made evident to General Dix 
early in the day that the editors of the "World" 
and "Journal of Commerce" were innocent of the 
fraud, Secretary Stanton forbade their release 
until the real culprit was found. Meantime the 
publication of the fraudulent document had cre- 
ated great excitement throughout the coimtry. 
The editors of four other New York papers — 
the "Herald," the "Times," the "Tribune," and 
the "Sun" — joined in a strong appeal to the 
President for the release of the two editors who 
had been arrested and sent to Fort Lafayette, 
and for the restoration to them of their news- 
paper ofBces. Governor Seymour of New York 
fiercely resented Secretary Stanton's alleged ty- 
rannical orders for the seizure of the two news- 

*The mails for the Scotia closed at 10:30 a.m., and Colonel San- 
ford sent the Government despatches for Europe by the despatch- 
boat down the bay. 

234 



A BOGUS PROCLAMATION 

paper offices, and the arrest of the editors, claim- 
ing that they were an unwarranted interference 
with the public press ; and he even called upon the 
Grand Jury to indict Stanton for his "illegal" 
acts. This request, however, was not complied 
with. It was not until May 22 that Stanton or- 
dered the editors to be released and their estab- 
lishments restored to them. 

For some reason, never made public, it was at 
first believed by the authorities that the author of 
the forgery had concocted his scheme in Wash- 
ington, and caused the bogus call for additional 
troops to be telegraphed over the wires of the In- 
dependent Telegraph Company, a new concern 
and a rival of the American Telegraph Com- 
pany. The wires of the latter ran into the War 
Department and were directly under the control 
of the Government, while those of the Independ- 
ent Company were not under such direct super- 
vision. Major Eckert, under orders from Secre- 
tary Stanton, went personally to the Independ- 
ent Company's office on Twelfth Street, Washing- 
ton, and ordered the superintendent, Mr. James 
N. Worl (who is still living in Philadelphia, 
now over eighty years old) to deliver up all mes- 
sages and news reports in his custody. Worl at 

235 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

first refused, claiming they were confidential and 
privileged communications, but Eckert's de- 
mand was backed up by General Wiswell, who 
called in a file of soldiers from the outside to act 
as a guard while Eckert actually took possession 
of the office and its contents, as shown by this re- 
port: 

Ninth Street Office, Washington, D. C, May 18, 1864.. 

Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War: I have the 
honor to report that the arrests have been made and the of- 
fice closed. Thos. T. Eckert, Major, Supt., Military Tele- 
graphs. 

Mr. Worl in an interview published in March, 
1905, in the "Telegraph Age," states that the 
writer was placed in charge of the captured office, 
but in this he is mistaken. Mr. Tinker is the one 
to whom was assigned that duty, while I remained 
in the War Department. I clearly recall Tin- 
ker's return and his oral report to Secretary Stan- 
ton that the entire staff of the office in question 
had started for Old Capitol Prison in a pouring 
rain, and that he had possession of all messages 
and news reports, but had not yet found the orig- 
inal of the bogus proclamation. 

Meantime Secretary Stanton telegraphed 
General Dix to seize the New York offices of the 

236 



A BOGUS PROCLAMATION 

Independent Telegraph Company at Cedar and 
Nassau streets, and in the Gold Room in William 
Street, the Brokers Exchange, etc., arrest the 
superintendents, managers and operators, and 
confine them in Fort Lafayette. Similar orders 
were sent to General Lew Wallace at Baltimore, 
General Cadwallader at Philadelphia, and the 
commanding officers at Harrisburg and Pitts- 
burg.^ 

Dix at New York, under Stanton's imper- 
ative orders, seized the offices of the Independent 
Company and arrested the manager — Wallace 
Leaming, and his staff of operators and clerks. 
The entire party were escorted, under guard, 
to Dix's headquarters. The charge preferred 
against them was "aiding and abetting in the 
transmission over the wires of the Independent 
Telegraph Company of a forged document pur- 
porting to be a proclamation by the President of 

^ In Pennsylvania the company was called the Inland Telegraph 
Company. The employees arrested at Baltimore, Philadelphia, 
Harrisburg and Pittsburg were sent under guard to Washington. 
Of the telegraph people who were thus arrested and imprisoned 
unjustly, as was soon found to be the case, only a few survive, 
among them Jesse H. Robinson of Washington, D. C, manager of 
the Weather Bureau Telegraph Department, James N. Worl of Phila- 
delphia and Robert C. Edwards and George A. Hamilton of New 
York, the last two having held responsible positions with the Western 
Union Telegraph Company for many years. 

237 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

the XJnited States and by William H. Seward, 
Secretary of State, which had been . . . pub- 
lished in two New York newspapers." 

Conjecture the feelings of Manager Learning 
and his comrades when they faced this charge in 
the presence of the stern old warrior, the author 
of the sentiment that had thrilled every loyal heart 
at the beginning of the war, "If anyone attempts 
to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the 
spot." ^ Perhaps they might be simimarily tried 
and executed. Sadly they heard the order given 
that they were to be confined in Fort Lafayette, 
and they soon began their march under guard to 
the Battery, where the Berdan was waiting to 
carry them down the bay. The telegram was 
sent to the War Department : 

May 18, 1864. 

The manager, superintendent and operators of the tele- 
graph line were arrested at 5 p.m., and will be sent to Fort 
Lafayette in an hour. John A. Dix, Maj. Genl. 

General Cadwallader at Philadelphia tele- 
graphed to Stanton on May 18: "Lines seized, 
manager, operators and superintendent arrested 
and sent to Washington." 

^ The original of this famous despatch, dated January 29, 1861, is 
in the possession of the Lincoln Club of Brooklyn, N. Y. 

238 



A BOGUS PROCLAMATION 

Captain Foster, Provost Marshal, Pittsburg, 
telegraphed: "At 5:30 p.m. seized office of Inland 
Telegraph Company and will send manager and 
three other employees to Washington at 8 :35." 

Colonel Bomford at Harrisburg telegraphed: 
"At 7 P.M. seized Independent Telegraph line, 
{ self-styled Inland and American line) papers 
and operators." 

Two days later General Dix telegraphed to the 
Secretary of War: 

I have arrested and am sending to Fort Lafayette, Jos- 
eph Howard^ the author of the forged proclamation. He is 
a newspaper man and is known as Howard of the "Times." 
He has been very frank in his confession, says it was a 
stock-jobbing operation and that no person connected with 
the press had any agency in the transaction, except another 
reporter,^ who took manifold and distributed the copies to 
the newspapers, and whose arrest I have ordered . . . 

To the above Stanton replied at 9:10 p.m., 
May 20: 

Your telegram respecting the arrest of Howard has been 
received and submitted to the President. He directs me to 
say that while in his opinion the editors, proprietors and 
publishers of the "World" and "Journal of Commerce" are 
responsible for what appears in their papers injurious to 

1 "The New York Times," May 22, 1864, gives the name as F. H. 
Mallison. 

239 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

the public service and have no right to shield themselves 
behind a plea of ignorance or want of criminal intent, yet, 
he is not disposed to visit them with vindictive punishment, 
and, hoping they will exercise more caution and regard for 
the public welfare in future, he authorizes you to restore to 
them their respective establishments. 

The next day, May 21, Dix reported that the 
"superintendent, manager and operators are 
completely exonerated from the charge of com- 
plicity in the publication of the proclamation 
fraud." Whereupon Stanton directed that the 
telegraph employees be released, but that the 
telegraph offices be still held. Similar action was 
taken in respect to the telegraph employees from 
Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Pittsburg, Baltimore 
and Washington, who had been put in Old Capi- 
tol Prison. Forty-eight hours later the telegraph 
offices were restored to the telegraph company, to 
whom a clean bill of health was given, together 
with an offer to allow their wires to be connected 
with the War Department, so that a share of the 
Government telegraph business might be given 
to them. 

Howard, the author of the forged proclama- 
tion, was a newspaper correspondent of ability 
as a collector of news, and a fluent writer. He 
had formerly acted as Rev. Henry Ward 

240 



A BOGUS PROCLAMATION 

Beecher's secretary. Mr. Beecher had a strong 
liking for Howard, notwithstanding his action 
in this instance, and he made an urgent appeal to 
the President for his release. Howard's person- 
ality was pleasing, and for forty years he has 
maintained a position of prominence as a news- 
paper writer. 

In considering Mr. Beecher's appeal, Lincoln 
could not have forgotten the valiant and useful 
service that distinguished man had rendered this 
country during the early part of the war, in his 
masterly speeches in support of the Union cause, 
delivered in many cities of England, when the 
tide of sentiment there seemed to be setting so 
strongly against us. 

The following despatches passed with regard 
to the release of Howard : 

Executive Mansion, Washington, August 22, 1864. 

Hon. Secretary of War, 

My Dear Sir: I very much wish to oblige Henry Ward 
Beecher by releasing Howard; but I wish you to be satis- 
fied when it is done. What say you? Yours truly, 

A. Lincoln. 

I have no objection, if you think it right — and this is a 
proper time. E. M. S. 

241 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

It will be observed that Stanton did not favor the 
release of Howard, but Lincoln had a more mer- 
ciful nature and the next day issued the order: 

Let Howard, imprisoned in regard to the bogus procla- 
mation, be discharged. A. Lincoln. 
August 23, 1864. 

While the search for the culprit was in full 
tide, Stanton extended his Briarean arms to the 
newspaper men in Washington. As his suspicion 
had fallen upon the telegraph company because 
of its newness, it also fell upon a news syndicate 
recently organized by Henry Villard, Adams 
Hill (afterward Professor of Rhetoric at Har- 
vard ) and Horace White, which had attracted at- 
tention to itself by some notable "scoops" in the 
way of army news. He caused Villard to be ar- 
rested and detained two days at the headquarters 
of the Provost Marshal General. Hill was kept 
"under observation" for the same period, and 
White, who had been one of Stanton's prime fav- 
orites, but who had recently resigned his position 
in the War Department to join the news syndi- 
cate, was summoned to Stanton's private office and 
subjected to sharp questioning. When the real 
culprit was discovered Villard was released, and 

242 



A BOGUS PROCLAMATION 

although no apologies were made to him or his 
colleagues, some choice scraps of news later 
found their way to the office of the syndicate, 
which supplied material for new "scoops," and 
had a soothing influence generally. 



15 



243 



XVII 



grant's wilderness campaign 



ON March 9, 1864, Grant received his com- 
mission as heutenant-general and was 
placed in command of the armies of the United 
States, estabhshing his headquarters with the 
Army of the Potomac, then near Culpeper, Vir- 
ginia, under the immediate command of Meade. 
My war diary makes Httle mention of events 
at this time, but the Rev. H. E. Wing, now of 
South Norwalk, Connecticut, has recalled an in- 
cident in his experience that connects Lincoln 
with the telegraph office in an interesting man- 
ner. Grant had started his Wilderness Cam- 
paign by moving his army across the Rapidan, 
and advancing in strong force against Lee. It 
was an open secret which Lincoln himself shared, 
that Grant preferred to be cut off from Wash- 
ington while making this movement. In Lin- 
coln's letter to Grant of April 30, 1864,^ he says: 
. . . "The particulars of your plans I neither 

1 The original of this letter was sold at auction in New York City 
on May 19, 1902, to G. H. Richmond for $1050. See " New York 
Times," May 20, 1902. 

244 



GRANT'S WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN 

know nor seek to know ..." So, when the 
army advanced from Culpeper over the Rapidan, 
the telegraph did not follow immediately, and for 
nearly a week we were without any news from 
Grant except brief intimations that the two ar- 
mies had been engaged and that Lee was being 
slowly pushed south. The tension became very 
great until, as Tinker's diary records : 

May 6, 1864. A reporter arrived at Union Mills. Left 
the army near Chancellorsville at four o'clock this morning. 
Everything pushing along favorably. No news direct from 
Grant. 

That reporter was H. E. Wing of "The New 
York Tribune," from whose account of his jour- 
ney from our army through the enemy's lines to 
Union Mills, the following extract is taken: 

I crawled out of a rebel camp at Manassas Junction at 
dusk Friday^ May 6, 1864, and hustled down the railroad 
track to Bull Run_, where I came into our lines and learned 
that our people had no news from the front. I realized that 
I was probably the only one of four or five newspaper men 
who had succeeded in getting through. As my paper would 
have no issue after the following morning until Monday, 
May 9, my news would be stale unless it went through that 
night. There was no train, I could not get a horse, so I 
offered $500 for a hand-car and two men to run it, but all to 
no avail. So I kept on until I reached a military telegraph 
office and asked the operator to let my report go through; 
but he refused, his orders being to send no newspaper reports 

245 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

over government wires. I then sent a despatch to my friend, 
Charles A. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War, to the effect 
that I had left Grant at four o'clock that morning. That 
waked up the Department in which there was the utmost 
anxiety. Instantly Secretary Stanton asked me where Grant 
was when I left him. This assured me I had a corner on 
the news from the front. I replied that my news belonged 
to the "Tribune," but if he would let one hundred words go 
through to my paper I would tell him all I knew. Stan- 
ton's response was a threat to arrest me as a spy unless I 
uncovered the news from the army. This made me very 
anxious, but still I refused. I was disgusted that after all 
my enterprise my paper would not get my important news. 
But just then Lincoln must have come into the War Office 
for I was asked if I would tell the President where Grant 
was. I repeated my previous offer and he accepted the 
terms at once. I did not have a scrap of paper about mj'^ 
person (discreet correspondents in the field never took any- 
thing of that sort through the lines), so I dictated to the 
operator while he transmitted my despatch, which Lincoln 
would not limit to one hundred words and which was tele- 
graphed direct to New York and appeared in Saturday's 
Tribune," May 7. Mr. Lincoln ordered a locomotive to be 
sent out on the road to bring me to Washington, about 
thirty miles ; and at two o'clock in the morning I reached the 
White House travel-stained and weary, but delighted at 
my success in having brought the first news from Grant's 
army, and especially in being honored by the President's 
special favor. That early morning interview with Lincoln 
was the beginning of a strong friendship accorded to me, a 
mere boy, by that wonderful man, the memory of which is 
a precious treasure in my heart.^ Mr. Lincoln told me that 

"'The New York Tribune" of May 7, 1864, has a half column 
dated Union Mills, Va., Friday, May 6, 9 p.m., corameiicing: "The 

246 



GRANT'S WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN 

to relieve the anxiety of the whole country regarding Grant's 
first contest with Lee he decided to let my despatch come 
through ; also that he had arranged with Managing Editor 
Gay to give a summary to the Associated Press to appear 
in all the papers. 

The issue of May 9, has a despatch stating that 

No one has come in from the army since the "Tribune" 
correspondent. His account was published on Saturday 
morning, and no newspaper has any accounts from the field 
save those which he bore. 

The "Tribune," May 10, says in a despatch 
from Washington : 

The "Tribune" messenger who brought not only to the 
Government, but to tlie country, the first news of the recent 
great battles was Henry E. Wing of Connecticut. He 
footed half the distance in, and was frequently fired on by 
guerillas. He was a totally used up pedestrian when he 
reached the "Tribune" Bureau in this city — used up in every- 
thing but pluck. Mr. Bushnell of New Haven heard of his 
brave devotion to the paper that employed him, and got up 
a little purse of $50, which was given him with a presenta- 
tion speech by Sam Wilkeson. 

Then follows reference to another purse made up 
by newspaper men, including Whitelaw Reid, 
Uriah Painter, Puleston and Henry. The ac- 

Grand Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan on Wednesday." 
Then follows an account of Grant's initial successes in the great 
movement. The despatch ended thus: "I am on my way to Wash- 
ington with more complete reports that I will send to-morrow." 

247 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

count says: "This purse would have been heavier 
if the newspaper men had been richer." 

Lincohi's action in overruhng Stanton's strict 
orders barring press reports from Government 
wires, in order to reHeve the general anxiety, 
discloses once more his acute sympathy with 
and constant thought fulness for the common 
people. 

General Eckert has recently told me the fol- 
lowing incident which well illustrates Lincoln's 
kindly nature. 

On his way to the telegraph office early one 
morning in April, 1864, just before Grant started 
on the Wilderness Campaign, Lincoln observed in 
the hall a young woman who seemed to be in great 
distress. She carried a baby in her arms and was 
pacing to and fro and crying. The President 
asked Eckert to go out and see the woman 
and learn the cause of her trouble. This was 
done, the major reporting that the woman had 
come to Washington thinking she could get a 
pass to the front to enable her to visit her hus- 
band, and let him see his child, who had been born 
since the father enlisted ; but she had learned that 
she would not be allowed to go to the army. Lin- 
coln said, "Major, let 's send her down." Eckert 
replied that strict orders had been given not 

248 



GRANT'S WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN 

to let women go to the front. Stanton, en- 
tering the office at the time and seeing the evident 
sympathy of Lincoln for the woman in her trou- 
ble, said, "Why not give her husband a leave of 
absence to allow him to see his wife in Washing- 
ton?" The President replied: "Well, come, let 's 
do that. Major, you write the message." But 
Eckert said the order must be given officially, and 
Lincoln replied: "All right, Major; let Colonel 
Hardie (Assistant Adjutant- General) write the 
order and send it by telegraph, so the man can 
come right up." Colonel Hardie wrote the mes- 
sage, which was telegraphed to the Army of 
the Potomac, and when the sorrowing woman 
was informed of what had been done, she 
came into the office to express her gratitude to 
the President. Lincoln then asked her where she 
was stopping. She said that she had not yet 
found a place, having come direct from the rail- 
road station to the White House, and then to 
the War Department. Lincoln then directed 
Eckert to obtain an order from Colonel Hardie 
to allow the young mother and her baby to 
be taken care of in Carver Hospital until her 
husband arrived. This was done, and the soldier 
was allowed to remain with his wife and child for 
over a week before returning to his regiment. 

249 



XVIII 

LINCOLN UNDER FIRE AT FORT STEVENS 

TOWARD the end of June, 1864, General 
Lee detached a body of 20,000 men, includ- 
ing a large cavalry force, from the army defend- 
ing Richmond and sent them North under the 
command of General Early for the purpose of 
making a quick dash into Maryland and to 
Washington, if the capital were found to be in- 
sufficiently protected, as Lee had heard was the 
case. This condition of imminent danger^ really 
existed, for it is well known that but for the brave 
and heroic action of Lew Wallace in attacking 
Early at the mouth of the Monocacy with a force 
much smaller in numbers than that of the enemy, 
thus delaying Early's movements twenty-four 

^ My war diary says : 

July 10, 1864. — The enemy broke the railroad at Laurel to-day 
(11 miles out). Yesterday they seized a passenger train at Gun- 
powder Bridge, north of Baltimore, capturing General Franklin 
and staff, but they afterwards escaped. 

July 11, 1864. — Great excitement in Washington. Department 
clerks are being armed and sent to the forts at the boundary. 

250 



UNDER FIRE AT FORT STEVENS 

hours, the latter might easily have reached and 
entered Washington before reinforcements could 
have arrived from Grant's army. Wallace's 
command consisted of 2700 troops, largely raw 
militia, and about 3300 veterans belonging to 
the 6th Corps under General Ricketts, the lat- 
ter having reached Baltimore from City Point 
only two days before. 

The Monocacy fight was waged all day Sat- 
urday, July 9, and ended in Wallace's defeat, 
leaving Early free to resume his march upon 
Washington. Wallace sent this telegram to the 
War Department on Sunday, July 10: "I have 
been defeated. The enemy are not pressing me, 
from which I infer they are marching on Wash- 
ington." This was indeed the fact, for Early's 
advance reached the District boundary line on 
Monday morning, and later in the day the signal 
officer wigwagged this sentence: "The enemy is 
within twenty rods of Fort Stevens." Early at 
once began a reconnaissance to learn the strength 
and disposition of our defenses and for two days 
kept up an almost continuous firing which could 
be heard distinctly in Washington. 

There was one considerable skirmish, wit- 
nessed by Lincoln, whose summer residence was 

251 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

only four miles from Fort Stevens, in a cottage 
at the Soldiers Home. Lincoln visited the forti- 
fications on Monday and Tuesday, and on 
both occasions was in great danger, one of our 
men having been killed within a few feet of 
where the President stood. His tall form must 
have been a conspicuous target for the enemy's 
sharp-shooters, and it was a matter of remark at 
the time that he did not seem to realize the serious 
risk incurred in going to the front of our line 
while skirmishing was in progress. It is of his- 
torical importance to note that this was the first 
time (and up to the present the only time) when 
a President of the United States, although Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the armj^ and navy, has been 
exposed to the fire of the enemy's guns in battle. 
The total nimiber of killed and wounded on both 
sides in the two days' skirmishes at the boundary 
line of the District of Columbia was nearly 1000. 
While Lincoln witnessed the spirited skirmish 
with Early's troops in front of Fort Stevens on 
July 11, he carefully observed the whole situa- 
tion of aflfairs and upon his return to the city he 
came direct to the War Department and gave us 
a pretty full account, which has been recorded by 
my comrade Chandler, as follows : 

252 



UNDER FIRE AT FORT STEVENS 

"I have in my possession the diagram which 
Lincoln made in the telegraph office, immedi- 
ately after his return from his tour of the forti- 
fications to the north and west of the city. This 
diagram showed the relative positions of the two 
bodies of troops and where the skirmish took 
place, all of which he explained to Major Eckert, 
Tinker, Bates and myself, who were, of course, 
extremely interested in his picturesque descrip- 
tion." My comrade, H. H. Atwater, now of 
Brooklyn, gives this account of Early's raid: 

On Monday, July 11, 1864, I received orders from Major 
Eckert to take the telegraph ambulance at the War Depart- 
ment and go to Fort Reno, Tenallytown, as fast as possible, 
as they were expecting an engagement at any moment. It 
was one of the hottest days I ever experienced, and the dust 
rose in clouds blinding the vision. Beyond Georgetown we 
met a great number of people coming into Washington with 
their household effects, some driving cattle and leading 
horses. On each side of the road wherever a bush or tree 
cast any shade soldiers could be discerned prostrated by 
sunstroke. When half-way there my horses gave out and I 
started on foot, but the driver overtook me, the horses having 
had a few minutes' rest. The office at General M. D. Har- 
din's headquarters was in a building left standing between 
the two forts. This building was demolished the next day 
because it was in line with the guns of the forts. On the roof 
in the blazing sun, signal-men were wigwagging their de- 
spatches. To the northeast we could see the dust of the 
enemy as they moved back and forth. At 11 p.m. General 

253 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Hardin handed me a message reading as follows: "A scout 
just reports that the enemy are j^reparing to make a grand 
assault on this fort to-night. They are tearing down fences, 
and are moving to the right, their bands playing. Can't you 
hurry up the Sixth Corps.''" General Hardin told me if 
we were attacked to run my wires inside Fort Reno and 
keep up continuous communication with the War Depart- 
ment. 

The next day, July 12, the skirmish in front of Fort Ste- 
vens took place. I could see the fight from Fort Reno. It 
lasted until after dark. Operator Loucks at Fort Stevens 
said to me over the wire: "I am going out to take a shot at 
the rebels." 

On Tuesday one of Early's men was captured, and 
after necessary pressure had been put upon him he con- 
fessed that Early had not made the grand attack INIonday 
night because he learned of the arrival of the Sixth Corps. 
Had he done so it is probable he would have come into 
Washington. ^ 

For forty-eight hours, therefore, the long- 
coveted prize had been within Early's grasp. 
Never before during the war had a Confederate 
army been so close to Washington as to be 
within sight of the glittering dome of the capi- 
tol, and Early must have gnashed his teeth when 
he thought of his one day's delay at the Monoc- 
acy, which had been just long enough to allow 
veteran troops from Grant's army to reach 

^ Early's official report saj^s the weather was extremely hot, the 
roads very dusty, and his troops utterly worn out and unfit for 
an attack when they reached our defenses. 

254 



UNDER FIRE AT FORT STEVENS 

Washington, for neither he nor his men failed to 
recognize on the parapets of our forts the well- 
known flags of the famous 6th Corps, a part of 
which brave body of troops had fought him all 
day Saturday at the Monocacy. The remainder 
of this veteran corps, under General Wright, had 
landed at Seventh Street wharf, Washington, on 
Monday, at just about the hour at which Early's 
advance had come in sight of Fort Stevens. 

Emory's division of the 19th Corps from New 
Orleans, had also landed at Washington on Mon- 
day, July 11, and followed the 6th Corps to the 
front. 

With the dawn of Wednesday, however, it was 
discovered that Early had retreated, and Wash- 
ington emerged from what is now known to 
have been one of its most serious crises during the 
whole war, for, as was said in an address in May, 
1902, by Leslie M. Shaw (then Secretary of the 
Treasury), "with the national capital in the 
hands of the enemy it would have been impossi- 
ble to prophesy the foreign complications, to say 
nothing of the demoralization of the people of 
the United States." Grant has said of this raid, 
"If Early had been one day earlier he might have 
entered the capital." 

255 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

This was not the only time Early's fate helied 
his name, for three months later his army of 
raiders also lost one day's time in their calcula- 
tions when Sheridan sent them whirling down 
the Valley of the Shenandoah after their initial 
victory dm-ing his temporary absence in Wash- 
ington. ^ 

1 See pages 79, 80.'; 



256 



XIX 



CABLES AND SIGNALS 



IN his Annual Message to Congress, December, 
1863, Lincoln, after referring to the arrange- 
ments with the Czar of Russia for the construc- 
tion of a line of telegraph from our Pacific 
coast through the empire of Russia to connect 
with European systems, urged upon Congress 
favorable consideration of the subject of an in- 
ternational telegraph (cable) across the Atlantic 
and a cable connection between Washington and 
our forts and ports along the Atlantic coast and 
the Gulf of Mexico. In the latter scheme he 
took a deep personal interest, and he had a num- 
ber of conferences with Cyrus W. Field, the chief 
exponent of ocean cables. 

My war diary refers to one of Field's visits 
to Washington, when Stanton assigned to me 
the duty of transcribing from dictation a memo- 
rial to the Government, urging the laying of 
a coast cable which Field was engaged in pre- 
paring. The latter was intensely interested in 
the subject, and being of an excitable nature, his 

257 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

words flowed from his lips in a rapid, intermittent 
stream, while his thoughts outran his spoken 
words ten to one, so that it was not long before I, 
not being a shorthand writer, was engulfed, and 
the result was, judging from my notes, that 
Field's memorial, like an ocean cable, was dis- 
cernible only at its two ends, with here and there 
indications of a struggle and a splash. Several 
weary hours were spent in this way, and when at 
last some sort of order had been evolved out of 
seeming chaos and the memorial finally completed 
and signed. Field shot out of the door and rushed 
over to Stanton's room, waving the document as 
if it were a danger-signal, leaving me alone and in 
a semi-collapse. Drawing long breaths of relief 
at the removal of the tension, I returned to my 
regular cipher-work, resolved never again to act 
as an amanuensis for Cyrus W. Field. 

Probably because of the large expense involved 
and the fact that up to that time no very long 
cables had been successfully laid, and also be- 
cause of the difficulty of maintenance in working 
order free from injury by Confederate blockade- 
runners, Lincoln's cherished plan of a coast cable 
from Fort Monroe to New Orleans, was not 
adopted. Had we then known what we do now 

258 



CABLES AND SIGNALS 

about cables, their construction, maintenance, 
■protection, and operation, without doubt Field's 
plan, which in its essentials was entirely feasible, 
would have been accepted and Lincoln's recom- 
mendation acted upon by Congress, and the war 
brought to a close much sooner. In this case Lin- 
coln's "far sight," as in other important matters, 
is now seen to have been prophetic and his broad 
views were further in advance of and more com- 
prehensive than those of others of his time. 

It is not generally known that early in 1862 
the War Department purchased about fifty 
miles of the abandoned Atlantic cable of 1858. 
A section of this cable was laid by the Military 
Telegraph Corps across Chesapeake Bay from 
Cape Charles to Fort Monroe, the work being 
finished and the cable connected up the first 
week in March of that year. It failed a few 
days before the Confederate ram Merrimac at- 
tacked our fleet, sinking the Cumberland, burn- 
ing the Congress, and running the Minnesota 
aground in Hampton Roads. The cable was re- 
paired, however, and General Wool's telegram 
of Marcli 8, to the Secretary of War stating that 
Ericsson's iron-clad — Monitor — had arrived and 
would proceed to take care of the Merrimac the 

" 259 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

next day, was sent over it and reached Washing- 
ton on March 9, the day of the fight between the 
Monitor and the Merrimac. 

This cable — about twenty miles in length — is 
believed to have been the longest submarine cable 
successfully laid in this country up to that time. 
It was interrupted frequently, either because of 
faulty construction, or from being caught by 
dragging anchors. 

In August, 1864, an additional section was 
laid in the James River between Jamestown 
Island, near Norfolk, and Fort Powhatan, below 
City Point, because the land line between those 
points, on the south side of the river, had been 
broken by the enemy several times, and the topog- 
raphy of the country was such that it could not 
be sufficiently well guarded. 

As a matter of collateral interest it may here 
be noted that Cyrus W. Field obtained from the 
legislature of Newfoundland on March 10, 1854, 
an exclusive grant for fifty years for the estab- 
lishment of a line of telegraph from the conti- 
nent of America to Newfoundland and thence 
to Europe. The first cable was laid in 1857, but 
it did not work successfully. He made two at- 
tempts in 1858, the first of which was a failure. 
The third cable was laid the same year, and for 

260 



CABLES AND SIGNALS 

a short time signals were exchanged slowly. 
Congratulatory messages between Queen Vic- 
toria and President Buchanan were sent, each 
message occupying in transmission over an hour. 
This third cable failed, however, after 732 mes- 
sages had been successfully transmitted over it. 
In 1866 the fourth, and finally successful, at- 
tempt was made to lay an ocean cable, and on 
July 27 of that year it was opened for public 
business. It is believed that since that date cable 
communication between Europe and America 
has never been entirely interrupted. There are 
now sixteen transatlantic cables, all duplexed: 
nine to Ireland direct, one to Ireland via the 
Azores, two to England, two to France, and two 
to Germany via the Azores. The ocean cable 
mileage of the world at the close of 1906 has 
been given as 251,132 miles. 

Fifty years ago one of the quack remedies in 
vogue, extensively advertised, was" Swaim's Pan- 
acea," the headquarters of which were in Philadel- 
phia. The proprietor— James Swaim — was a 
character in his way. In his early days he was in 
the naval service, and became familiar with the 
somewhat crude methods of signaling by means 
of flags and lanterns. Swaim appeared in 
Washington in November, 1862, with his newly 

261 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

invented signal system, which was turned over 
to Tinker and myself for trial. The plan in- 
cluded a code-book of several thousand words 
and phrases, each represented by a combination 
of numerals, usually four. There were six sepa- 
rate signals which were transmitted thus: Num- 
ber 1, by the flag or torch being held aloft to 
the right of the operator or suspended from a 
pole or standard; Number 2, straight out to the 
right; Number 3, to the right in a downward 
direction; Numbers 4-5-6 were represented by 
similar movements or positions to the left. Two 
numerals were needed for each letter of the alpha- 
bet, thus : 



A 


G 


M 


S 


Y 


5 


11 


21 


31 


41 


51 


61 


B 


H 


N 


T 


z 


6 


12 


22 


32 


42 


52 


62 


C 


I 





u 


1 


7 


13 


23 


33 


43 


53 


63 


D 


J 


P 


V 


2 


8 


14 


24 


34 


44 


54 


64 


E 


K 


Q 


W 


3 


9 


15 


25 


35 


45 


55 


65 


F 


L 


R 


X 


4 





16 


26 


36 
262 


46 


56 


66 



CABLES AND SIGNALS 

For the next twenty-four hours Tinker and I 
devoted all our spare moments to the task of 
learning this code of signals. 

Swaim at the outset suggested a novel plan by- 
means of which he said any one could quickly 
learn his alphabet. By referring to the fore- 
going table, it will be observed that the letters 
A, G, M, S, and Y stand at the top of the re- 
spective columns. Now, quoting Swaim's words, 
"The first question one asks when the new system 
is proposed is, 'Who is the inventor?' The an- 
swer is given by repeating rapidly the four letters 
A G M S, so as to make them sound like 'A 
Jeems,' " Swaim's Christian name being James. 
Then, having that fact in mind, one is immedi- 
ately led to ask "Y" (Why?) ; so there you have 
the key to the entire alphabet, and by following 
down the several columns in order, he said, the 
whole picture is before you, and each letter can 
be readily classed with its corresponding pair of 
numerals. 

To tell the truth this curious method did really 
help to fasten in our minds the several features 
of Swaim's code, and on the morning of Novem- 
ber 14 we went over to the White House grounds 
and practised for an hour, the President stopping 

263 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

on his way to the War Department to observe our 
strange antics. On the third day — November 15 
— Tinker and I went to the roof of the Soldiers 
Home and Swaim and Stager to the Smithsonian 
Institute, about four miles distant, and we ex- 
changed signals for two hours, using palm-leaf 
fans covered with black muslin in lieu of flags. 
The wind was blowing so strongly that we found 
it difficult to move the fans properly and one of 
the messages sent by Tinker was "It is windy." 
Stager received this all right and signaled back 
to us, "Take peppermint." Notwithstanding 
our successful experiments, the Government did 
not adopt Swaim's code. 

Two years later some one proposed that we 
should make a test of signaling at night by 
means of a calcium light, which could be dis- 
played and screened at will by the use of a but- 
ton, operated by hand, in the same manner as 
a telegraph-key is manipulated; the alternate 
flashes of light, long or short, representing the 
dashes and dots of the Morse alphabet. 

At that time Lincoln, with his family, lived in 
one of the cottages at the Soldiers Home, and so 
it was arranged that there should be an exhibition 
(for his special benefit) of Morse signaling to 

264 



CABLES AND SIGNALS 

and from the Smithsonian, and on the evening 
of August 24, 1864, Major Eckert and I 
went to the Soldiers Home with suitable in- 
struments, our comrades, Chandler and D wight, 
having gone to the Smithsonian Institute, with 
a similar equipment. My diary records that 
there were present on the tower of the Soldiers 
Home, besides the operators the President, Rear- 
Admiral Davis of the Navy Department, Colonel 
Nicodemus of the Signal Corps and Colonel 
Dimmick of the army. We were able to send 
Morse signals to the roof of the Smithsonian and 
receive responses from Chandler and Dwight. 
Professor Joseph Henry was present and wit- 
nessed our experiments. Mr. Lincoln was greatly 
interested in this exhibition and expressed the 
opinion that the signal system of both the army 
and navy could and would be improved so as to 
become of immense value to the Government. 
This has, in fact been done, and our efforts 
of over forty years ago now appear rudimen- 
tary. 

Comrade H. H. At water was stationed at 
the Washington Navy Yard much of the time 
during the war, and has given the following ac- 
count of a visit which Lincoln made on one occa- 

265 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

sion when experiments were being made with 
rocket signals : 

One evening a party of six or eight, including Mr. Lin- 
coln, came to the Navy Yard and proceeded to the bulkhead, 
where they had arranged to demonstrate the workings of 
certain signalling rockets, several of which were sent up 
with good results. When the last one was tried each one in 
the party watched it as it soared aloft, leaving its streams of 
fire trailing behind, but when half-way up it exploded pre- 
maturely and fell to the water a miserable failure. "Well," 
remarked Lincoln, "small potatoes and few in a hill." I 
had never heard the expression before and it fastened itself 
in my mind. 

Two weeks after the assassination Atwater saw 
Booth's body when it arrived from the lower 
Potomac and was transferred to a monitor, at the 
same pier where not very long before Lincoln 
had witnessed the experiments with signal 
rockets. 



266 



XX 



Lincoln's forebodings of defeat at the polls 



ON June 8, 1864, the Republican convention 
at Baltimore unanimously renominated 
Lincoln for President. Horace White, who had 
formerly been employed as a clerk in Secretary 
Stanton's office, was then engaged in newspaper 
work, and was in the convention, seated next to 
the operator who was working the wire leading 
to the War Department. White sent the first 
congratulatory message to Lincoln, and shortly 
afterward telegraphed that Andrew Johnson of 
Tennessee had been nominated for Vice-Presi- 
dent. Lincoln's private secretary, Nicolay, had 
also meantime telegraphed the news, and when 
the President reached the telegraph office, my 
colleague, Mr. Tinker, offered his congratula- 
tions, but Lincoln said he had not yet seen the 
message announcing his renomination. When 
the copy was shown him he said: "Send it right 
over to the Madam. She will be more interested 

267 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

than I am." ^ When the announcement of John- 
son's nomination was handed to the President, he 
looked at the telegram a moment and then said, 
"Well, I thought possibly he might be the man; 
l^erhaps he is the best man, but — " and rising 
from his chair he walked out of the room. Mr. 
Tinker has always contended from this incident 
that Lincoln preferred that Hannibal Hamlin 
should have been placed on the ticket a second 
time, and expected that he would be. 

In these peaceful days, more than forty years 
after the close of the Civil War, when we read 
of the fraternization of the Blue and the Gray at 
army reunions, South and North, and of Republi- 
can Presidents being enthusiastically welcomed by 
the people of the South, it is somewhat difficult 
to recall clearly the troublous times of 1864, that 
most critical and momentous year of the war, and 
harder still to realize that there was so much of 
doubt in the minds of the Northern people, and 
even of our chosen leaders, as to the ultimate out- 
come of the struggle. Our great war President 
himself, whose heroic faith voiced itself so often in 

^ My comrade, Mr. Chandler, says that Lincoln made exactly the 
same remark on the night of November 8, when the news that came 
over the wires was such as to make it certain that Lincoln had been 
reelected. 

268 



FOREBODINGS OF DEFEAT 

his public utterances, was in his heart more or less 
of a doubter at critical times, as the writer can 
bear certain witness. He seemed to recognize 
more clearly than some of his advisers the great 
anti-war feeling in the North and the underlying 
forces back of it, and the weight of this subtle 
and malign influence. 

I consider 1864 the most critical and mo- 
mentous year of the war from a military point of 
view, although in that year we had no Bull Run 
defeat as in 1861, nor Chickahominy disaster as 
in 1862, nor Gettysburg nor Vicksburg victories 
as in 1863. The year was remarkable also in 
political movements. The sorehead convention 
at Cleveland in May had nominated Fremont 
and Cochrane, both from New York, unmindful 
of the Constitutional provision against taking 
both the President and the Vice-President from 
the same State. At that nondescript gathering 
a letter from Wendell Phillips, the abolitionist 
leader, was read in which he said: 

The administration therefore I regard as a civil and 
military failure and its avowed policy ruinous to the North 
in every point of view. If Mr. Lincoln is reelected, I do 
not expect to see the Union reconstructed in my day unless 
on terms more disastrous to liberty than even disunion 
would be. 

269 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

"The New York Herald" of May 31, 1864, 
commenting on the probable nomination of JNIc- 
Clellan by the Democratic convention soon to 
meet, said editorially: "As for Lincoln, we do not 
think it possible that he can be reelected after his 
remarkable blunders the past three or four 
years." Leonard Swett of Illinois, one of Lin- 
coln's closest friends, wrote to his wife three 
months before the election: "Unless material 
changes can be wrought Lincoln's election is be- 
yond any possible hope. It is probably clean 
gone now."^ 

The regular Democratic convention at Chi- 
cago, with Seymour as its chairman and Val- 
landigham, lately returned from enforced exile 
in the Confederacy, as chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Resolutions, had nominated McClellan 
and Pendleton. General Grant made this refer- 
ence to these nominations: "Their only hope (the 
South) is a divided North and the election of a 
peace candidate." 

My friend, Mr. Edward A. Hall, has recently 
told me the following incident : He was in Abram 
S. Hewitt's office shortly before the election, 
when McClellan's chances were discussed, Ed- 

iSee Tarbell's "Lincoln," Vol. 3, p. 200. 

270 



FOREBODINGS OF DEFEAT 

ward Cooper and Wm. H. Osborn being pres- 
ent. Both Hewitt and Cooper expressed the 
opinion that McClellan would win, as McClellan 
had told them only a day or two before that he 
was sure of his election, and that he would resign 
his commission in the army on November 1. Os- 
born had formerly been president of the Illinois 
Central Railroad and at that time was chairman 
of its board of directors. In that connection he 
had known both Lincoln and McClellan, Lincoln 
having been employed by the road at various 
times in a legal capacity, and McClellan having 
held the position of chief engineer. Osborn, 
blunt spoken, as always, after hearing Hewitt 
and Cooper express their opinion, said, "No, Lin- 
cohi will beat McClellan, for he has the courage 
of his convictions and does things, but McClellan, 
while able and great in preparation, lacks con- 
fidence in himself at critical times. Even if 
elected, he would be a failure in the responsible 
position of President. He could, and did, build 
the best and strongest bridges on our road, but I 
always noticed that at the finish he hesitated to 
give the order to send over the first train." 

George Francis Train, in one of his erratic and 
sparkling effusions in the form of an open letter 

271 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

to General McClellan in October, 1864, calls him 
the peace candidate on a war platform, adding 
that "as you are a railway man. General, you 
know that it is dangerous to stand on the plat- 
form." 

As one straw showing how the wind of opinion 
then veered toward McClellan, it is noted that 
only two days before Lincoln recorded his re- 
markable estimate, hereinafter given, the soldiers 
and attendants at Carver Hospital, Washington, 
in a State election, had cast an unusually large 
vote— one in three — against the Administration. 
This otherwise trivial incident must have exerted 
a special influence on Lincoln, in view of the fact 
that he had frequently visited that hospital and 
mingled with its occupants. Nor must we forget 
that the exponents of peace-at-any-price were 
still firing their sputtering squibs at Lincoln, 
which irritated although they probably did not 
much hurt. 

The general efl^ect of these eccentric peace 
movements, however, was to foster among certain 
classes in the North a feeling of unrest and of 
dissatisfaction with the conduct of the war. Such 
persons no doubt believed they were patriots, but 
they had no backbone, and events not turning 

272 



FOREBODINGS OF DEFEAT 

out as they wished, they were too ready to cast 
blame upon the Administration, — on the one 
hand upon Stanton, the Bismarck of our Civil 
War, who was the personification of zeal and im- 
placable fury in his treatment of his country's 
enemies, whether North or South, and on the 
other hand, without logic or reason, upon Lin- 
coln, .who had "malice toward none; with charity 
for all," but who also had "firmness to do the 
right," no matter if his best friends and legal 
advisers were against him. 

Lincoln, silent under the stings of criticism, 
but with sublime faith in the final success of 
the cause of liberty, of which he was the great 
exponent, appears in 1864, as we now see him in 
his environment, to have become imbued with the 
idea that perhaps, after all, the people of the 
North would declare themselves at the polls in 
November as being willing to end the war 
by putting McClellan in the presidential chair 
and thus pave the way for an amendment to the 
Constitution which would permit the Southern 
States to withdraw peacefully from the Union 
and set up a separate government, with negro 
slavery as its corner-stone. Lincoln, with his lofty 
ideas of eternal right and justice between man 

273 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

and man, whether white, black, red or yellow, 
had, it seemed, almost lost heart and his long- 
tried patience was nearly exhausted. He was, 
indeed, almost at the parting of the ways as he 
saw so many of his own political party and for- 
mer supporters wavering or actually deserting 
the colors and opposing the Government in the 
very matters which to him were vital. They had 
turned back from their march up freedom's 
heights, the topmost peaks of which he had al- 
ready scaled, and from which only, as he believed, 
could be had clear visions of the controlling ques- 
tions of his day and generation. To him those 
visions and what they meant to his country were 
sublime verities, as indeed they later came to be 
to most or all of his countrymen. 

Senator John T. JNIorgan of Alabama said 
in 1895: "The character of Lincoln is not yet 
known to this generation as it will be to those 
who shall live in later centuries. They will see, 
as we cannot yet perceive, the full maturity of his 
wisdom, in its actual effects upon the destinies of 
two great races of men." 

But at this time— October, 1864— with the 
waves of civil war beating upon him, with the 
snarling tones of his political enemies sounding in 

274 



FOREBODINGS OF DEFEAT 

his ears, with the nagging of those who professed 
to be his friends, but who criticized his words and 
actions from their lowly habitat in the slough of 
despond, with such meager disappointing results 
from the Emancipation Proclamation, the gen- 
eral features of which had been announced two 
years before, it is perhaps not to be wondered at 
that Lincoln feared defeat in the approaching 
November election.^ 

In his great anxiety Lincoln had sent John 
Hay, one of his secretaries, on a special mission 
to Hilton Head, South Carolina, with instruc- 
tions to the commanding general, to cooperate 
in certain measures intended to aid in bring- 
ing Florida back into the Union, on the 
lines of his Reconstruction Proclamation of De- 
cember 8, 1863, the program being to extend the 
Union lines as far as possible into that State and 
induce the loyal citizens to set up a reorganized 

^On p. 568, Vol. II, of Lincoln's "Complete Works" appears this: 

Memorandum 
Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C, August 23, 1864. 

This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly proba- 
ble that this administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be 
my duty to so cooperate with the President-elect as .to save the 
Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have 
secured his election on such ground that he cannot save it after- 
ward. A. Lincoln. 

See, also, Nicolay and Hay's "Lincoln," Vol. IX, p. 251. 

17 275 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

State government to give its three electoral votes 
for the Administration at the November election. 
This plan, if under more fortunate conditions it 
could have succeeded, was rendered futile by the 
wholly unexpected defeat of General Truman 
Seymour at the battle of Olustee. 

John G. Nicolay, his first secretary, was de- 
spatched to Missouri with a view to overcoming 
factional troubles in that State, kept alive by 
political leaders of strong contrary types, and 
thus to secure if possible her eleven electoral 
votes, which in Lincoln's estimate, as we shall see, 
were conceded to McClellan, but which were 
actually cast for Lincoln. 

In October, Maryland had voted upon her new 
constitution, the chief feature of which was the 
final extinction of slavery; and out of a total of 
60,000 votes the majority in favor of the new law 
was a bare 375, and that result had been carried 
to the Court of Appeals on the theory that the 
vote of the soldiers in the field could not legally 
be counted. 

The Pennsylvania, Ohio and other State elec- 
tions took place on October 11, only two days 
before the incident described below. On tliat 
evening Lincoln staj^ed in the telegraph office 

276 



FOREBODINGS OF DEFEAT 

until after midnight for the purpose of receiving 
promptly the results of the elections — his last 
message being as follows: 

Washington, Oct. 11, 1864. 
General Simon Cameron, Philadelphia: 

Am leaving office to go home. How does it stand now.'' 

A. Lincoln. 

Cameron's reply was hopeful but not conclusive. 
The following day Grant telegraphed to the War 
Department for news of the Pennsylvania elec- 
tion. Lincoln being in the telegraph office when 
the despatch was received, answered it thus : 

October 12, 1864. 
Lieut. Genl. Grant, City Point, Va. : 

Pennsylvania very close and still in doubt on home vote. 

A. Lincoln. 

Such in general were the conditions through- 
out the country as they appeared to Lincoln 
when, on the evening of October 13, 1864, he 
made his regular visit to the War Department 
telegraph office, which for over three anxious 
years had been his safe retreat and lounging- 
place, and where he had so often calculated the 
wavering chances of war and peace. Major 
Eckert and the cipher-operators were all there, 
and we could not fail to notice that the President 

277 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

looked unusually weary and depressed as he sat 
down to scan the political field and consider the 
probabilities of his reelection, three weeks later. 

After the results of the State elections two 
days before had been fully discussed, the conver- 
sation begun by him turned to the Presidential 
election, and he expressed himself as not being at 
all sure of reelection. He referred to special con- 
ditions in some of the States as affording ground 
for the fear that McClellan might slip through. 
In fact his cautious spirit led him to underrate 
his own strength, and to exaggerate McClellan's 
chances, and after pondering the matter a short 
while, he reached for a cipher telegraph-blank 
and wrote his own careful estimate of the electoral 
vote as shown by the facsimile published for the 
first time in "The Century Magazine" for Au- 
gust, 1907. 

He entered in one column the names of the 
eight States which he conceded to McClellan, 
giving him 114 electoral votes. In a second 
column he entered the names of the States which 
he felt sure would cast 117 votes for the Admin- 
istration. This total showed only three more 
votes than he allowed JNIcClellan. He did this 
from memory, making no mistake in the number 

278 



o/tme^ 



ice 1, %. lElilitarfi S^dcgraph. 

WAR DEPARTMENT, 



ISO4. 






A , , „ » , ,, . 7A>/,«-^c-«. M '10.. JvCi ttrc.}^ ix>— /S6 






■J 

/ 

// 

// 



, /■ 7 



J ,c.^' >■'■ 



J;,.......- 












'h, 



/'-' 



'/> . 'Isl-^,,. 



c'TX^ii^a^^^ 




Copyright, 1907, by Thomas T. Eckert 

Facsimile of Lincoln's autographic estimate of the electoral 

vote of 1864 

The origrinal autograph, now owned by the author of this vohinie, was written 
by Lincohi in tlie War Department telegraph office, October 13, 186t, tliree weeks 
before the election, and was printed for the first time in "The Century Maga- 
zine" for August, 1907. The headings: "Supposed Copperhead Vote" and 
"Union Vote for President," as well as tlie addition of 'Nevada." with "3" 
votes, and the corrected total " 120 " are in the liandwriting of Major Eckert. 



FOREBODINGS OF DEFEAT 

of electoral votes to which each State was enti- 
tled, excepting that lie omitted Nevada, which 
was about to come into the Union, and her three 
votes were added in Eckert's handwriting. ( The 
President's proclamation admitting Nevada is 
dated October 31, 1864.) 

It is hard to believe to-day that Lincoln al- 
lowed himself in his calculations so narrow a mar- 
gin as three votes out of 231, but the proof is 
absolute. 

The actual result of the election was of course 
very different from Lincoln's figures. McClel- 
lan received only twenty-one votes, two of the 
three States, Delaware and Kentucky, being 
original slave States, the other being New Jer- 
sey. Lincoln received 212 votes instead of his 
estimate of 117. One Nevada vote was not 
counted owing to a technicality. In 1860 he had 
received 180 votes. 

Those who are familiar with Lincoln's written 
papers will not be surprised at the neatness of this 
memorandum in his own handwriting, which 
shows no erasure or blot, every word being legi- 
ble, although in the lapse of time some of his 
pencil-marks have become somewhat blurred and 
indistinct. It was his custom when writing a 

281 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

note or making a memorandum, as the cipher- 
operators had observed, to take his pen or pencil 
in hand, smooth out the sheet of paper carefully 
and write slowly and deliberately, stopping at 
times in thoughtful mood to look out of the win- 
dow for a moment or two, and then resuming his 
writing. In this respect he was wholly different 
from Stanton, whose drafts or letters and memo- 
randa were jotted down at a terrific pace, with 
many erasures and interlineations. 

I still have in my possession the original draft 
(partly in my handwriting) of Stanton's General 
Orders to the army, dated April 16, 1865, an- 
nouncing the death of the President, which is so 
full of corrections in his own bold hand as to be 
almost unreadable; but all of Mr. Lincoln's 
papers, written by himself, were models of neat- 
ness and accuracy. 

It is of more than passing interest to note that 
on the very day on which Lincoln was setting 
down his conservative estimate of the political 
situation and of the trend of Northern opinion 
adverse to his administration, Jacob Thompson, 
the Confederate agent in Canada, wrote to Jef- 
ferson Davis that in his opinion "the reelection 
of Lincoln is almost certain." Thompson's letter 

282 



FOREBODINGS OF DEFEAT 

in cipher, dated Clifton, Canada, October 13, 
1864, reached the War Department at the hands 
of Thompson's messenger (who was also in our 
secret service), on Sunday, October 16, and was 
translated by the cipher-operators.^ 

Lincoln's fears proved to have been unfounded, 
and were no doubt the result of peculiar circum- 
stances and conditions operating upon an anxious 
mind normally disposed to introspection. Let 
us, if we can, imagine his thoughts at this time 
of sore depression. We may suppose that his 
mind reverted to Valley Forge at that critical 
period of the Revolution, in February, 1778, 
when news came of the alliance between France 
and the United States which had been secured 
through the influence of Franklin, the patriot 
and philosopher.^ 

iSee chapter Vand also General Eckert's testimony in "The Trial 
of the Conspirators," compiled by Pitman, page 42. 

'John Hay, in his essay on "Franklin in France," says of the 
reception of that treaty: 

"It was the sunburst to the colonies after a troubled dawn. The 
tattered and frost-bitten soldiers of Valley Forge were paraded 
to receive the joyful news, . . . and shouted, 'Long live the King 
of France !' Washington issued a general order saying 'It had 
pleased the Almighty Ruler of the universe propitiously to defend 
the cause of the United American States, and by finally raising up 
a powerful friend among the nations of the earth to establish our 
liberty and independence upon a lasting foundation.' This act of 
France gave us a standing abroad which we had hitherto lacked." 
—"The Century" for January, 1906. 

283 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Now, in 1864, at what probably seemed to Lin- 
coln the crucial hour of our Republic, he no doubt 
reflected upon the ambitious efforts of Napoleon 
III to set up a monarchy upon our southwestern 
borders by means of French bayonets, in contrast 
with the generous act of Louis XVI, nearly 
eighty years before, in signing a "treaty of uni- 
versal peace and true friendship," which should 
bind his heirs and successors. 

Without doubt Lincoln also dwelt seriously 
upon the awful sacrifice of human life in the con- 
duct of the war, and particularly upon Grant's 
sanguinary struggle in the Wilderness and on the 
James, with Richmond still defiant; and he may 
well have wondered whether the people of the 
North were not weary of the deluge of blood, 
with no stoppage of the flow in sight. David R. 
Locke (Petroleum V. Nasby) in his "Reminis- 
cences" says of Lincoln in 1864: 

He was as tender hearted as a girl. He asked me if the 
masses of the people of Ohio held him in any way respon- 
sible for the loss of their friends in the Army. 

Lincoln doubtless thought of the desertion of 
his standard by some of his own former support- 
ers, and of the lukewarmness of others; of the 

284 



FOREBODINGS OF DEFEAT 

many unjust criticisms of his policy in the news- 
papers, and of their slurs and falsehoods which he 
was powerless to answer or combat. Truly, like 
the Saviour, he had "endured the contradiction of 
sinners." And we must remember also that Lin- 
coln was possessed of a natural melancholy, a 
morbid tendency to take undue blame upon him- 
self when subjected to criticism. All things then 
being considered, it is perhaps not so very strange 
that on that evening of October 13, 1864, in his 
accustomed seat at Major Eckert's desk, he 
should have been ready to give up the ship if God 
so willed it. But God did not so will it, for on 
the night of November 8, he received the welcome 
news of his reelection while in the War Depart- 
ment telegraph office, where only three weeks be- 
fore he had been almost ready to concede McClel- 
lan's election. He was not unduly elated at the 
glad result, but serene and dignified, and was still 
mindful of the feelings of others, as is shown by 
the closing part of his speech to the assembled 
multitude on that most eventful occasion, so often 
quoted, but well worth repeating in this connec- 
tion: 

So long as I have been here I have not willingly planted 
a thorn in any man's bosom. While I am deeply sensible 

285 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

to the high compliment of a reelection, and duly grateful, as 
I trust, to almighty God for having directed my country- 
men to a right conclusion, as I think, for their own good, it 
adds nothing to my satisfaction that any other man may 
be disappointed or pained by the result. May I ask those 
who have not differed with me to join with me in this same 
spirit towards those who have. 



286 



XXI 

CONSPIRATORS IN CANADA 

IN the spring of 1863 Clement L. Vallandig- 
ham of Ohio was arrested by General Burn- 
side for his words and acts, which seemed to the 
commanding general of the Department of the 
Ohio to be treasonable. Vallandigham was a 
prominent "Peace Democrat," and at the time of 
his arrest was an avowed candidate for the gov- 
ernorship of his State ; and, in fact, he was nomi- 
nated at the State Convention a little later. Val- 
landigham was tried by a military com't, convicted 
and sentenced, but assumed the role of martyr 
to the cause of free speech, which was then a 
2)opular rallying-cry for a certain wing of the 

4 

Democratic party. The criticisms of some of the 
newspaper opponents of the Administration were 
so bitter that a very embarrassing situation was 
created. The Washington authorities did not 
approve of Burnside's action; but as an accom- 

287 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

plished fact it was indorsed by Lincoln, who, as 
a way out of the dilemma, proposed the exile of 
Vallandigham through the lines of the Confed- 
eracy.^ 

Lincoln could not foresee all the consequences 
of his edict of May 19, 1863, banishing the talk- 
ative Ohio politician ; but looking backward now, 
the writer of these lines is of the opinion that the 
death of our first martyred President may be 
traced to its inception, at least, indirectly, to Val- 
landigham's conferences with the Richmond 
authorities during his enforced exile. We may 
well believe that with his persuasive tongue he 
was able to convince Davis of a very strong peace 
sentiment in the North, which could be fostered 
and encouraged to the great benefit of the South 
by the plans which, after Vallandigham's return 
North, were inaugurated by him and his sympa- 
thizers, and which in course of time led to arson 
and other crimes against society at large. In 
their reflex influence upon the minds of certain 
zealots and fanatics these plans and their resultant 

* See on page 345, Vol. II, of "The Complete Works," Lincoln's 
letter of June 13, 1863, to Erastus Corning and others who, at a 
public meeting at Albany, May 16, had secured the passage of reso- 
lutions censuring the Administration for the alleged unconstitu- 
tional arrest of Vallandigham. 

288 



CONSPIRATORS IN CANADA 

deeds furnished the inspiration which, in the 
writer's behef, finally resulted in the tragedy of 
April 14, 1865. 

Let us go over the trail from Vallandigham's 
sojourn in the Confederacy in 1863 to the early 
summer of 1864, when it became known to our 
Government through the medium of its secret 
service that President Davis had appointed spe- 
cial commissioners to reside in Canada, ostensibly 
for the purpose of actively cooperating with the 
leaders of the peace party in the North, and their 
open and secret allies, in the creation and devel- 
opment of peace sentiments, so that a path might 
be opened for effective peace negotiations be- 
tween the Richmond and Washington govern- 
ments. While this was made to appear as the 
principal duty of the commissioners, and to that 
extent it was a laudable service, their zeal and 
varied inclinations led them to initiate and ac- 
tively support other measures which were not even 
hinted at in their official instructions, and which 
there is no good reason to believe were approved 
by President Davis or his cabinet, although the 
official correspondence between Richmond and 
Canada published since the close of the war tends 
to show that some, at least, of the Richmond 

289 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

authorities had definite knowledge of the des- 
perate acts of their Canadian representatives. 

Taking the official record in order, as shown by 
the copies and extracts given herein with such 
explanation as may be necessary for an intelli- 
gent understanding of each transaction, one is 
amazed at the wide scope and devilish purpose of 
the deep-laid plans for the destruction of life and 
property, some of which, however, were fortu- 
nately discovered in time to prevent their being 
fully carried out. The first communication is 
this : 

Richmond, Va., April 7, 1864). 

Hon. Jacob Thompson, Macon, Miss. 

(Care of Gov. Charles Clark). 
If your engagements will permit you to accept service 
abroad for the next six months, please come here im- 
mediately. Jefferson Davis. 

Thompson evidently fell in with the scheme in 
the mind of Davis, who had meantime conferred 
with several other persons whom he wished to 
include in the commission, for we next find the 

following : 

Richmond, Va., April 27, 1864. 
Hon. Jacob Thompson, 

Sir: Confiding special trust in your zeal, discretion, and 
patriotism, I hereby direct j^ou to proceed at once to 
Canada, there to carry out such instructions as yo.u have 

290 



CONSPIRATORS IN CANADA 

received from me verbally, in such manner as shall seem 
most to conduce to the furtherance of the interests of the 
Confederate States of America, which have been entrusted 
to you. Very respectfully & truly yours, 

Jeffn. Davis. 
Similar letter to Hon. C. C. Clay, Jr. 

In addition to Jacob Thompson and C. C. 
Clay, Jr., Davis selected Professor James P. 
Holcombe and George N. Saunders, and these 
four commissioners proceeded to Canada, which 
they made their headquarters during the remain- 
der of the war, keeping up communication with 
Richmond by means of letters carried to and 
fro by secret agents, and also by "personals" 
in one of the New York dailies, which were 
inserted by one of their agents in New York 
City, the Richmond authorities having facilities 
for regularly obtaining copies of these news- 
papers through the lines. The Confederate com- 
missioners also corresponded from time to time 
with certain peace agitators in the North, and by 
July they had so far imposed on the credulity of 
Horace Greeley as to induce that patriotic and 
honest but misguided man to implore President 
Lincoln to allow the four Confederate commis- 
sioners to come to Washington for an interview. 
John Hay, Lincoln's secretary, was sent to New 

291 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

York for conference with Greeley, and after- 
ward to the Canadian side at Niagara Falls, 
where Thompson, Clay, Holcombe, and Saun- 
ders were then staying, armed with a safe conduct 
to Washington and return for those gentlemen, 
subject to certain prescribed conditions, as fol- 
lows : 

July 18, 1864. 
To Whom it May Concern : 

Any proposition which embraces the restoration of peace, 
the integrity of the whole Union, and the abandonment of 
slavery, and which comes by and with an authority that can 
control the armies now at war against the United States, 
will be received and considered by the executive govern- 
ment of the United States and will be met by liberal terms 
on other substantial and collateral points, and the bearer or 
bearers thereof shall have safe conduct both ways. 

Abraham Lincoln. 

As is well known Greeley's chimerical project 
resulted in failure, as the commissioners were not 
able to meet the simple and reasonable conditions 
prescribed by the President. 

Our Government next became aware of the 
pernicious schemes of the conspirators — for such 
they must be called — in the field of active coop- 
eration with C. L. Vallandigham and other 
Northern malcontents in their plan of forming 
in Indiana, New York, Ohio, Illinois, and other 

292 



CONSPIRATORS IN CANADA 

States a secret order, whose members were to be 
enrolled under military rules, bound with for- 
midable oaths, and ultimately provided with arms 
and ammunition for active service in support of 
the plans of the organization. These plans con- 
templated, among other things, opposition to 
army drafts, release of Confederate prisoners 
wherever possible, burning of Northern cities, 
and general devilment for the purpose of harass- 
ing the Federal authorities, the expectation being 
that an appreciable number of Union troops 
would be drawn from the armies at the front to 
protect the threatened cities and frustrate the 
plans of the "Copperheads," as they were called. 
There was also held before the eyes of certain 
ambitious leaders of the movement the glittering 
prospect of a new Confederacy to be composed 
of certain States in the then Northwest, which at 
an opportune time were to secede from the 
Union; and a wild hope was cherished by some 
of the eastern leaders of the movement that even 
the Empire State might secede and set up a sepa- 
rate government on the Atlantic seaboard.^ 

^ For full details concerning these various secret orders, known 
as the Sons of Liberty, Knights of the Golden Circle, McClellan 
Minute Guard, etc., see Judge Advocate General Holt's re- 
port to the Secretary of War dated October 8, 1864, printed in the 
Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. VIII, p. 930. 

18 293 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

It was rumored that the membership of the 
secret band in New York City alone amounted to 
20,000, all suitably officered and armed. In 
Thompson's report to the Confederate authori- 
ties, of December 3, 1864, he estimated the whole 
membership of the order at 60,000. It was 
reported by the secret agents of the War Depart- 
ment that some of the New York State officials 
were in sympathy with the movement, but it was 
not believed that Governor Seymour or his sub- 
ordinates had any previous knowledge of the vil- 
lainous plans for setting fire to New York City, 
or for the assassination of Lincoln. However, 
all was not clear sailing for the commissioners, 
and one of them, at least, became discouraged, 
as the following letter shows : 

St. Catharines, Canada, West, 

September 12, 1864. 
Hon. J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of State, 
Richmond, Va. 
• . . As to revolution in the North-west or any where in 
the United States, I am growing skeptical. The men who 
gave us strongest assurances of the purpose of the "Sons of 
Liberty" to rush to arms . . . are now in prison or fugi- 
tives in Canada. ... C, C. Clay, Jr. 

Meanwhile the War Department was not idle, 
and through the services of a secret agent, who 

294 



CONSPIRATORS IN CANADA 

was also in the employ of Thompson, kept itself 
posted on all the important movements of the 
conspirators. 

In chapter V an account has been given 
of Thompson's cipher-despatch dated Clifton, 
Canada, October 13, 1864, addressed to Jefferson 
Davis at Richmond, and the reply, also in cipher, 
dated Richmond, October 19. These despatches 
were intrusted to our agent, above referred to, 
and by him as he passed through Washington were 
shown to Major Eckert, who brought them, each 
in its turn, to the War Department, where the 
cipher-operators quickly translated them into 
English. Thompson's despatch included these 
words : 

We again urge the immense importance of our gaining 
immediate advantages. We now look upon the re-election of 
Lincoln in November as almost certain. 

Davis in reply used the following language : 

Your letter of 13th at hand. There is yet time enough to 
colonize many voters before November. 

Genl. Longstreet is to attack Sheridan without delay and 
then move north toward unprotected points. . . . He will 
endeavor to assist the Republicans in collecting their bal- 
lots. Be watchful and assist him. 

Jeffn. Davis. 

295 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Unlike Lincoln, Davis was not disposed to be 
facetious in his correspondence, but his remark 
about Longstreet assisting in the collection of 
Republican ballots, which probably referred to 
the soldiers' vote, had in it a touch of humor. It 
turned out, however, that in that very week at 
Cedar Creek, Sheridan was able to dash their 
hopes. 

While in certain directions the j)lans of the 
conspirators were being thwarted, other schemes 
were inaugurated which were dastardly and vil- 
lainous in the extreme. One source of informa- 
tion as to such plans was our consul at Halifax, 
who reported as follows : 

Halifax, Nova Scotia, November 1, 1864. 
•Hon. Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State: 

It is secretly asserted by secessionists here that plans 
have been formed and will be carried into execution by the 
rebels and their allies, for setting fire to the principal cities 
in the Northern States on the day of the Presidential elec- 
tion. M. M. Jackson, United States Consul. 

Another and more significant l)it of news was 
contained in a letter dated Syracuse, N. Y., 
November 2, 1864, and addressed to Hon. Wil- 
ham II. Seward, Secretary of State, Washing- 
ton, which inclosed a copy of an order just issued 

296 



CONSPIRATORS IN CANADA 

by John A. Green, Adjutant- General of the 
State of New York. This order, after referring 
to the general election to be held on November 8, 
and the rights of the people to an "untrammeled 
franchise," advised the public and the local au- 
thorities in each county and election district that 
"No military interference can be permitted with 
the election" and that "The Federal Government 
is charged with no duty or responsibility what- 
ever relating to an election to be held in the State 
of New York." A postscript to Holmes's letter 
was as follows: "There is great reason to fear 
that Lincoln will be assassinated soon." 

Vague rumors of a plot to kidnap or assassinate 
the President had previously reached the War 
Department, but had been given little credence 
until just about this time a photograph of Lin- 
coln had been received by Mrs. Lincoln through 
the mail which showed red ink-spots on the shirt- 
front, with a rope around the neck, the ends being 
drawn tautly upward. On one of his visits to the 
cipher-room Lincoln drew this photograph out 
of his high hat and told us that it had caused 
Mrs. Lincoln some anxiety which he did not 
share, as he had long ago become accustomed to 
seeing caricatures of himself. He added some 

297 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

words of surprise and sorrow that any human 
being could be so devoid of feeling as thus to 
wound the heart of an innocent woman. 

A duplicate of this mutilated picture of Lin- 
coln came by chance into the possession of Eckert 
under the following circumstances. While on his 
way to Cortlandt Street Ferry on November 26, 
1864, Eckert found in a street car an unsealed en- 
velop containing, among other papers, a letter 
giving directions, evidentlj^ referring to a kidnap- 
ping plot and also a picture of Lincoln with a 
rope around his neck and red ink-marks on the 
bosom of the shirt. These papers were after- 
ward discovered to belong to Payne, the assassin, 
— see chapter XXVII. 



298 



XXII 

THE ATTEMPT TO BURN NEW YORK 

AS explained in the previous chapter, one of 
>^ Thompson's messengers who traveled be- 
tween Canada and Richmond, was also in our 
secret service, and the War Department was 
therefore frequently advised of the plans of the 
conspirators/ This man had reported that the 
rumor mentioned in Consul Jackson's letter of 
November 1, 1864 (on page 296), of a purpose 
to set fire to certain Northern cities was correct, 
but that the work would not be attempted on 
Election Day, November 8, but several weeks la- 
ter; and that due notice would be given by him 
when the actual date was fixed. Later advices in- 
dicated the week after Thanksgiving as the prob- 
able time. Nothing further, however, being re- 
ceived from our spy. Major Eckert went to New 

^ See "The Trial of the Conspirators," compiled by Pitman, p. 24, 
also the quotation from my war diary in chapter V. 

299 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

York on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, and 
on the following morning called on Major-Gen- 
eral Dix, commanding the Department of the 
East, for a conference. The latter had already 
been advised by Secretary Stanton of the ma- 
chinations of the Confederate commissioners 
and their emissaries, but was wholly incredulous 
of the news about the burning of the city. 

With the aid of the police department of the 
city Dix had already used every available means 
to track the conspirators, but without success, and 
the scheme appeared so diabolical that he con- 
cluded it was wholly imaginary. Eckert tried to 
convince him, but could not, that there was solid 
ground for the rumors, and that the danger was 
not only real but imminent. Superintendent 
Kennedy and Inspector Murray of the police 
department were called in conference, and they 
too proved to be unbelievers. 

Eckert therefore left them for the purpose of 
returning to his hotel to prepare a cipher-message 
to Secretary Stanton, asking for further instruc- 
tions. Upon entering a Broadway omnibus, his 
eyes encountered those of our secret service man 
from Canada. Neither showed any recognition 
of the otli-er, but when Eckert left the stage at 

300 



THE ATTEMPT TO BURN NEW YORK 

the St. Nicholas Hotel the man also got out and 
followed him into the hotel and up-stairs to his 
room. All this time no word had been spoken by 
either. After the key was turned in the door, the 
man said that as there was not sufficient time to 
get the information to Washington by means of 
a New York "News" personal, the usual channel 
of communication, he had hurried from Toronto 
to New York to communicate to the War De- 
partment the fact that the conspirators intended 
to set fire to twelve or more New York hotels, 
whose names he gave, that very Friday evening. 
A lunch was ordered for the man, who was raven- 
ously hungry and tired, having traveled for over 
twenty-four hours, and after his meal he was told 
to lie down, which he did, falling asleep almost 
instantly. Eckert locked him in and went back to 
Dix with his fresh confirmatory evidence, and 
both the military and civil authorities then ac- 
cepted the situation and took immediate steps to 
thwart the plans of the conspirators. Plain- 
clothes men, policemen and soldiers by the hun- 
dred were quickly distributed about the city, with 
particular reference to the hotels that had been 
specially named by our spy as starting-points for 
the general conflagration. 

301 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Thirteen hotels were selected to be fired, they 
being the Astor, United States, Fifth Avenue, 
Everett, St. Nicholas, Lafarge, Howard, Han- 
ford, Belmont, New England, St. James, Tam- 
many and Metropolitan. Rooms in these hotels 
were taken by the members of the band, several 
of whom registered at two or more places. The 
plan they adopted, and which was carried out 
that evening, November 25, 1864, was as fol- 
lows: At the hour agreed upon, or as soon after 
as possible, the party in each case placed his 
door-key in the keyhole on the outside, and then, 
after a suitable disposition of the bedding and 
furniture, started a fire by breaking a bottle 
of liquid having the qualities of Greek fire, and 
which had been prepared beforehand by one of 
the band familiar with that class of chemicals. 
In a few cases a clockwork device was the 
medium, set to go off within about an hour after 
being wound up. In either case the conspirator 
having completed his work left his room, locked 
his door, and disappeared. In addition to the 
fires at the hotels named there was an alarm in 
Barnum's Museum, and two hay barges in the 
North River at the foot of Beach Street were also 
set on fire; but, fortunatelj^ because of the ac- 

302 



THE ATTEMPT TO BURN NEW YORK 

tivity of the military and civil authorities, who 
were so accurately informed in advance regard- 
ing the scheme, none of these dastardly attempts 
to cause a destructive conflagration proved suc- 
cessful. Had they all or even a majority of them 
succeeded, one's imagination weakens in the ef- 
fort to picture the awful loss of life and prop- 
erty that almost certainly would have resulted. 
Two reasons for the failure, both referring to 
traitors in their camp, are indicated in Thomp- 
son's report to his principals (which will be 
quoted later) , the first being a defect in the quali- 
ties of the Greek fire, and the other a premature 
disclosure of the plot to the Federal authorities 
by some one in the confidence of the Confederate 
commissioners. The second of these reasons had 
a real foundation, whatever may have been true 
of the other. 

For obvious reasons, General Dix requested 
the newspapers not to publish the names of sus- 
pected or arrested persons, but the following 
were, however, mentioned, the names, no doubt, 
being fictitious. At the Astor House, a man 
named Haynes ; at the Howard, one named Hor- 
ner; and at the Belmont a man who had regis- 
tered as Lieut. Lewis, U.S.A. The New York 

303 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Hotel Keepers' Society offered a reward of 
$20,000 for the arrest and conviction of the mis- 
creants; but while there were numerous arrests 
(including certain residents of the city) , evidence 
sufficient to convict them could not be secured. 
Only one of the active conspirators was ever ap- 
prehended, namely, Captain Robert C. Kennedy 
of the Confederate army, who had, with all the 
others, escaped to Canada, the day or day after 
the fires were started. Kennedy returned to the 
United States in December, 1864, and was ar- 
rested in Cleveland, Ohio. His trial took place 
at Fort Lafayette, in New York harbor, under 
General Orders No. 14, dated January 17, 1865. 
The commission lasted twenty-three days and was 
presided over by Brigadier-General Fitz Henry 
Warren, and Kennedy was hanged on ]March 25, 
1865. In the sentence of the military court the 
crime was characterized as follows : 

. . . The attempt to set fire to the city of New York is 
one of the greatest atrocities of the age. There is nothing 
in the annals of barbarism which evinces greater vindictive- 
ness. ... In all the buildings fired, not only non-com- 
batant men, biit women and children, were congregated in 
large numbers, and nothing but the most diabolical spirit 
of revenge could have impelled the incendiaries to act so 
revoltingly. 

304 



THE ATTEMPT TO BURN NEW YORK 

The real agents in the plot, on their arrival in 
Canada, reported to Thompson and Clay, with 
accounts of their unsuccessful efforts. In 
Thompson's letter of December 3, 1864, to Judah 
P. Benjamin, the Confederate Secretary of 
State, he mentions the attempts to start confla- 
grations not only in New York but also in cer- 
tain other Northern cities. This remarkable re- 
port from a high commissioner to a government 
claiming to have been actuated by motives of the 
highest order, contains these cold-blooded state- 
ments : 

... I have relaxed no effort to carry out the objects 
the Government had in sending me here. . . . Money has 
been advanced to Mr. Churchill of Cincinnati to organize a 
corps for the purpose of incendiarism in that city. I 
consider him a true man and although as yet he has effected 
but little, I am in constant expectation of hearing of effec- 
tive work in that quarter. . . . Having nothing else on hand, 
Colonel Martin expressed a wish to organize a corps to 
burn New York city. He was allowed to do so and a most 
daring attempt has been made to fire that city, but their 
reliance on Greek fire has proved a misfortune. It cannot 
be relied on as an agent in such work. I have no faith 
whatever in it and no attempt shall hereafter be made under 
my general directions with any such material. . . . During 
my stay in Canada a great amount of property has been 
destroyed by burning. The information brought me as to 
the perpetrators is so conflicting and contradictory that I 
am satisfied nothing can certainly be known. Should claims 

305 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

be presented at the War Office for payment for this kind of 
work, not one dollar should be advanced on any proof ad- 
duced until all the parties concerned may have an oppor- 
tunity for making out and presenting proof. Several parties 
claim to have done the work at St. Louis, New Orleans, 
Louisville, Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Cairo. ... I infer 
from your Personal in the New York News that it is your 
wish I should remain here for the present and I shall obey 
your orders. Indeed I have so many papers in my posses- 
sion, which in the hands of the enemy would utterly ruin 
and destroy very many of the prominent men in the North, 
that a due sense of my obligations to them will force on 
me the extremest caution in my movements. . . . The at- 
tempt on New York has produced a great panic which will 
not subside at their bidding. . . .^ 

John Wilkes Booth, the assassin, has not been 
certainly connected with the conspiracy to burn 
New York, but he was in that city on the day the 
fires occurred. In the New York papers of 
November 25, 1864, an advertisement appeared 
of a performance that night at the Winter Gar- 
den Theater in aid of the fund for the erection 
of a bronze statue of Shakspere (now standing 
on the Mall in Central Park). Shakspere's 
"Julius Csesar" was the play announced, and the 

^For further details of the attempt to burn New York City see 
"Confederate Operations in Canada and New York," by John W. 
Headlej', wlio claims to have held a commission as captain in the 
Confederate army, and to have been assigned by President Davis 
to special secret service under Thompson and Clay, Confederate 
commissioners in Canada. 

306 



THE ATTEMPT TO BURN NEW YORK 

three brothers, Edwin, Junius and John Wilkes 
Booth, were to act together, the last named tak- 
ing the part of Mark Antony, While the play 
was in progress, word reached the audience that 
Barnum's Museum and several hotels were on 
fire. There was great excitement, and people 
rushed to the exits to escape from the building. 
Edwin Booth came on the stage and urged the 
audience to remain seated as the Winter Garden 
Theater was not on fire and there was absolutely 
no danger. His speech had the effect of calm- 
ing the frightened people, and the play then 
went on to the end, although the audience was 
somewhat depleted. 

While John Wilkes Booth may not have had 
previous knowledge of the plot to burn New 
York it is certain that his associate, I^ewis 
Powell — or Payne, as he was called — was ac- 
quainted with the diabolical scheme, for after his 
arrest in April, 1865, he confessed that he had 
been selected to set fire to one of the hotels on 
that November night, but had refused on prin- 
ciple to act, his reason being that while he was 
willing to take the life of a high official of the 
Government for the good of the cause, he would 
not join in anything that would tend to the need- 

307 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

less destruction of property and the sacrifice of 
innocent lives. 

At the trial of the conspirators in the assassina- 
tion, Sanford Conover testified that in April, 
1864, Surratt brought to Montreal and delivered 
to Thompson cipher-despatches from JeiFerson 
Davis and Judah P. Benjamin, approving of the 
plot to kidnap Lincoln and his cabinet. Thomp- 
son said (as Conover testified), "This makes the 
thing all right." Doubt is thrown on this testi- 
mony by the fact that Thompson's appointment 
as commissioner in Canada was dated April 27, 
1864, and there could not have been time for him 
to reach Canada, communicate with Richmond 
and receive back in "April" the despatches men- 
tioned by Conover. The Official Records, how- 
ever, show that in the weeks of excitement and 
tension immediately following the death of the 
President, the Judge- Advocate-General of the 
War Department believed his Bureau had sub- 
stantial proof of the complicity of the Confed- 
erate government and its Canadian commis- 
sioners in the assassination plot. Judge Holt's 
report to the Secretary of War (see Rebellion 
Records, Ser. II, Vol. 8, p. 977) bears this in- 
dorsement : 

308 



THE ATTEMPT TO BURN NEW YORK 

Bureau of Military Justice, War Department, 

Washington, D. C, May 2, 1865. 

Respectfully returned with report that the testimony 
which has been under consideration by this Bureau indi- 
cates that Jefferson Davis, Geo. N. Saunders, Jacob 
Thompson, Clement C. Clay and others . . . were in com- 
plicity with the assassins of President Lincoln and their 
accomplices who committed the crimes referred to. 

J. Holt, Judge Advo. Genl. 

The above is quoted not to revive or kindle 
anew war-time animosities, but merely to com- 
plete this account, and the writer may add that, 
having read with care Judge Holt's report, he 
does not discover in it evidence to satisfy him 
that either President Davis or any member of 
his cabinet had guilty knowledge of John Wilkes 
Booth's plot to murder the President. 



" 809 



XXIII 



grant's orders for the removal of THOMAS 



GENERAL GRANT wrote three separate 
orders, one after the other, removing Gen- 
eral Thomas from command of the Army of the 
Cmnberland. President Lincoln suspended the 
first. General Logan did not deliver the second 
because Thomas had meantime advanced against 
Hood and fought and won the battle of Nash- 
ville, and Major Eckert suppressed the third. 

Before Grant came east to take general com- 
mand of the army, March, 1864, he was doubtless 
under the impression, which was generally preva- 
lent^ (at least the cipher-operators so believed), 
that Administration influences in Washington 

^ Captain David Lowry, now of Pittsburg, who was Adjutant of the 
5th Brigade, Army of the Ohio, is authority for the statement 
that "Grant's acceptance of the command of the United States 
army in March, 1864, was well-known among the staiF to be on 
condition of absolute freedom of control from Washington in- 
fluences." See also Lincoln's letter to Grant April 30, 1864, at the 
opening of Grant's first campaign in the east, in which he said, 
"The particulars of your plans I neither know nor seek to know." 

310 



GRANT'S ORDERS REMOVING THOMAS 

were frequently allowed to interfere with what 
was the better judgment of military men, and it 
was also understood that he was not favorably 
disposed toward Thomas.^ 

Mr. Carnegie told me in May, 1906, that as 
Grant passed through Pittsburgh on his way to 
Washington in March, 1864, he said to Grant 
that he presumed Thomas would be placed in 
command of the army in the west, and that Grant 
replied, "No; Sherman is the man." 

During the ensuing months of the year, Hal- 
leck. Chief of Staff at Washington, had, as the 
cipher-operators believed, caused Grant's un- 
friendly feeling toward Thomas to be strength- 
ened, and both, we knew, were of the opinion 
that Thomas in the west, as McClellan had been 
in the east, was too cautious to take the initia- 
tive, and too much disposed to inactivity. Fear- 
ing that Hood would cross the Cumberland and 
reach the Ohio before Thomas made up his mind 

1 It will be recalled that after the battle of Shiloh, in the spring of 
1862, Halleck virtually shelved Grant, his second in rank, placing 
Thomas in command of four of Grant's divisions. In his Memoirs, 
Vol. I, p. 377, Grant says: "For myself I was little more than an 
observer. Orders were sent to the right wing or reserve, ignoring 
me, and advances were made from one line of intrenchments to an- 
other, without notifying me. My position was so embarrassing, in 
fact, that I made several applications during the siege [of Corinth] 
to be relieved. ..." * 

311 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

to attack him, Grant sent a telegram from City 
Point on December 9, 1864, directing Halleck 
to prej^are an order and telegrajDh it to Nashville, 
relieving Thomas, and placing Schofield in com- 
mand. The order was made out in the name of 
the President, but was not sent because the Presi- 
dent, who once before had defended Thomas 
against public criticism (as expressed in the 
Maxwell "crazygram," printed in chapter XII), 
now supported him against his (Lincoln's) own 
military advisers, and Grant's order was sus- 
pended by Lincoln, after being prepared by As- 
sistant Adjutant-General Townsend as follows: 
(General Orders No. — ) 

War Department, Adjutant General's O^ce, Washington, 
D. C, December 9, 1864. 

In accordance with the following dispatch from Lieu- 
tenant-General Grants viz: "Please telegraph order reliev- 
ing him [Gen'l Thomas] at once and placing [Gen'l] Scho- 
field in command. Thomas should be directed to turn over 
all dispatches received since the Battle of Franklin to Scho- 
field. The President orders: 

I. That Maj .-Gen'l J. M. Schofield assume command of 
all troops in the Departments of the Cumberland, the Ohio, 
and the Tennessee. 

II. That Maj .-Gen'l George H. Thomas report to Gen'l 
Schofield for duty and turn over to him all orders and dis- 
patches received by him, as specified above. 

By order of the Secretary of War. 
312 



GRANT'S ORDERS REMOVING THOMAS 

Nicolay and Hay say that "the authorities took 
the responsibihty of delaying the order." Major 
Johnson, Stanton's private secretary, says "the 
order was prepared by Halleck but held by him 
until a reply could be received from Thomas to 
Halleck's telegram of December 10, referring to 
Grant's dissatisfaction at the delay." The truth 
probably is that Lincoln, Stanton, and Halleck 
conferred together, and that the concensus of 
their opinion was to allow Thomas one more op- 
portunity to move against Hood before Grant's 
order was executed; but the writer believes 
that Lincoln's judgment was the controlling 
factor. 

From December 9 until December 13 Grant 
and Halleck were in daily correspondence about 
the suspended order, and on the latter date Grant 
wrote his second order relieving Thomas, and sent 
it by the hand of Logan to be delivered in person, 
provided, when Logan arrived at Nashville, 
Thomas had not yet advanced. (See Special 
Orders 149, City Point, Virginia, December 13, 
1864. ) Before Logan was a day's journey away, 
however. Grant became still more anxious and 
started in person for Nashville via Washington, 
as shown by the following telegrams : 

313 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

City Point, Va., December 14, 1864, 3 p.m. 

Major-General Meade: I am unexpectedly called 
away. ... U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General. 

(Same to Major-General Ord.) 

City Point, Va., 

December 15, 1864, received at 3:15 p.m. 

Major-General H. W. Halleck, Chief of Staff: Lieu- 
tenant-General Grant left last evening for Washington and 
will probably reach there this afternoon. 

Jno. a. Rawlins, 

Brigadier-General and Chief of Staff. 

Grant arrived in Washington December 15, in 
the afternoon, and found that the wires to Nash- 
ville were interrupted, as shown by the following 
local despatches to Thomas, and that there was 
nothing to indicate that Thomas had yet moved 
toward the enemy : 

Nashville, Dec. 14, 1864, 10:20 p.m. 

General Thomas: The telegraph line stopped working 
north of Gallatin at about 5 this p.m. J. C. VanDuzer. 

Nashville, December 14, 1864, 11 p.m. 

General Thomas: The line between Clarksville and 
Bowling Green is also cut, which severs connection with 
Louisville entirely for to-day. I will endeavor to have the 
Clarksville route reestablished in morning. . . . 

J. C. VanDuzer. 
314 



GRANT'S ORDERS REMOVING THOMAS 

A conference was held in the War Depart- 
ment on the evening of December 15, between 
Lincoln, Stanton, Grant, and Halleck. Major 
Eckert being called in for consultation regarding 
the telegraphic situation, reported that nothing 
had been received from Thomas for twenty- four 
hours. Grant expressed his continued anxiety 
and finally told the President that he intended to 
continue on his journey to Nashville and take 
command in person, meantime relieving Thomas 
and placing Schofield in immediate command 
until his arrival. 

Grant then wrote his third order removing 
Thomas, and although Lincoln and Stanton were 
strongly opposed to such action, they were forced 
to consent because of Grant's urgent importunity. 
The final order for the removal of Thomas was 
then handed to Eckert for transmission, Grant 
going to Willard's Hotel to prepare for his de- 
parture. 

Eckert says he then returned to the telegraph 
office, where in fact he had been on duty con- 
stantly day and night for nearly a week. After 
conversing for a while with Pittsburgh, the re- 
peating office for Louisville, he learned that the 
line to Nashville by one route had been repaired 

315 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

and that messages were being exchanged. With 
General Grant's final desj)atch in his hands Eck- 
ert was in a quandary. Should he put it on the 
wires or not? Recalling the protests of the 
President and the Secretary of War only an hour 
before, against the removal of Thomas, he con- 
cluded to hold the telegram mitil he could hear 
from VanDuzer. So he waited for over an hour 
until finally at 11 p.m. (Dec. 15) the following 
telegrams came in cipher, the translation being in 
my handwriting : 

Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 14, 1864, 8 P.M. 
Major-General H. W. Halleck, Washington, D. C: 
Your telegram of 12:30 p.m., to-day is received. The ice 
having melted away to-day, the enemy will be attacked to- 
morrow morning. . . . George H. Thomas, 

Major-General U. S. Vols., Commanding. 

Nashville, Dec. 15, 1864, 10:30 p.m. 

Maj. T. T. Eckert: Our line advanced and engaged the 
rebel line at 9 this a.m. (Then follows a long eye-witness ac- 
count of the first day's battle resulting in an initial victory 
for our army.) ... J. C. VanDuzer. 

Eckert says he ran down-stairs with the two 
telegrams in his hand and started for Stanton's 
residence on K Street, in the ambulance, which 
was always in readiness at the door of the War 

316 



GRANT'S ORDERS REMOVING THOMAS 

Department. Stanton appeared at the second 
story window and called out, "Is that you, Major? 
What news?" "Good news," was the answer. 
Stanton shouted "Hurrah," and Eckert says he 
could hear Mrs. Stanton and the children also 
shouting "Hurrah." 

The Secretary appeared at the front door in a 
few moments and rode with Eckert to the White 
House. Eckert says he will never forget the tall, 
ghostly form of Lincoln in his night-dress, with a 
lighted candle in his hand, as he appeared at the 
head of the second story landing when the two 
callers were ushered up-stairs by the doorkeeper. 
The President was, of course, highly delighted to 
receive the news of Thomas's victory. 

While in the ambulance with Secretary Stan- 
ton on his way to the White House, Eckert took 
out of his pocket Grant's last order relieving 
Thomas and handed it to Stanton without saying 
a word. The Secretary asked whether it had been 
sent. Eckert replied, no, that he had held it on 
his own responsibility, partly because the wires 
were not working well at the time he received it 
from Grant, and partly because he wanted to 
hear further from VanDuzer, and he hoped to 
receive later information that the weather had 

317 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

moderated, thus allowing Thomas to begin his 
advance. The Major added: "Mr. Secretary, I 
fear that I have violated a military rule and have 
placed myself liable to be court-martialed." Sec- 
retary Stanton ^^ut his arm around Eckert's 
shoulder and said, "Major, if they court-martial 
you, they will have to court-martial me. You are 
my confidential assistant, and in my absence 
were empowered to act in all telegraph matters 
as if you were the Secretary of War. The result 
shows you did right." While at the White House 
Stanton showed Grant's last order removing 
Thomas to the President and told him Eckert 
had suppressed it. Lincoln replied that Eckert's 
action met with his hearty approval. 

Meantime a copy of VanDuzer's telegram had 
been sent to Willard's Hotel and upon its receipt, 
Grant handed it to Beck with with the remark, "I 
guess we will not go to Nashville." He then 
wrote the following telegram : 

Washington, D. C, December 15, \%6^, 11:30 p.m. 
Major-General Thomas, Nashville, Tenn.: I was just 
on my way to Nashville, but receiving dispatch from Van- 
Duzer, detailing your splendid success of to-day, I shall go 
no farther. ... U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General. 

Shortly afterward Grant received a long de- 

318 



GRANT^S ORDERS REMOVING THOMAS 

spatch from Thomas, from which the following 
extracts are taken : 

Nashville, Tenn., December 15, 1864, 9 p-m. 

Received 1 1 :25 p.m. 

Maj.-Gen. H. W. Halleck, Washington, D. C. : I at- 
tacked the enemy's left this morning and drove it from the 
river below the city . . . about 8 miles. Have captured 
. . . 1000 prisoners and l6 pieces of artillery ... I shall 
attack the enemy again to-morrow . . , Geo. H. Thomas. 

Major-General U. S. Vols. Commanding. 
Grant then sent the following telegrams : 

Washington, D. C, December 15, 1864, 11:45 p.m. 

Major-General Thomas, Nashville, Tenn. : Your dis- 
patch of this evening just received. I congratulate you and 
the army under your command for to-day's operations and 
feel a conviction that to-morrow will add more fruits to 
your victory. U. S, Grant, Lieutenant-General. 

Washington, D. C, December 15, 1864, 11 :50 p.m. 
Brig.-Gen. J. A. Rawlins, City Point, Va. : I send you 
dispatch just received from Nashville [Thomas to Halleck]. 
I shall not now go there. Will remain absent, however, 
until about Monday. U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General. 

When Lincoln came to the telegraph office the 
next morning, he sent the following fine despatch 
to Thomas: 

319 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Washington, D. C, December \Q, 1864, 11:25 a.m. 
Major-General Thomas, Nashville, Tenn. : Please ac- 
cept for yourself, officers, and men, the nation's thanks for 
your good work of yesterday. You made a magnificent be- 
ginning. A grand consummation is within your easy reach. 
Do not let it slip. A. Lincoln. 

Logan heard of Thomas's great victory at 
Louisville and sent this message : 

Louisville, Ky., December 17, 1864, 10 a.m. 

Lt.-General U. S. Grant, Burlington, N. J.: Have just 
arrived. . . People here jubilant over Thomas's success 
... It would seem best that I return to join my command 
with Sherman. Jno. A. Logan, Major-General. 

In consequence of the great victory over Hood, 
Secretary Stanton, on December 19, urged 
Thomas's appointment as major-general in the 
regular army, but Grant, apparently still inimi- 
cal to Thomas, wired Stanton, December 20 : 

I think Thomas has won the major-generalcy, but I 
would wait a few dajs before giving it, to see the extent of 
damages done. . . . 

The later reports from Thomas, however, were 
so very gratifying that Grant could no longer 
withhold his approval, and on December 24, 1864, 

320 



GRANT'S ORDERS REMOVING THOMAS 

Thomas received his commission as major-general 
in the regular army to date from December 15. 

In this connection, it is of interest to note that 
in February, 1868, President Johnson offered to 
appoint Thomas, lieutenant-general of the 
army. Thomas telegraphed the President from 
Pittsburg declining the high honor, and stating 
that he "had done nothing since the Civil War to 
merit the compliment, and it was too long after 
the war to consider the appointment as a reward 
for anything he had done during the war." 

When Thomas made a visit to Washington in 
the summer of 1865, Secretary Stanton sent 
Eckert to the depot to meet him and bring him to 
the War Department in Stanton's own carriage, 
sending his baggage to his house, where Thomas 
was invited to stay while in the capital. When 
Thomas entered Stanton's office the latter 
greeted him most cordially and after discussing 
the battle of Nashville and the incidents referred 
to above, Stanton produced Grant's third and last 
order of December 15, 1864, removing Thomas 
from his command, and then turning to Eckert 
said, "This is the man who withheld that order 
and saved you from the mortification of a sum- 
mary removal." 

321 



XXIV 

THE ABORTIVE PEACE CONFERENCE AT 
HAMPTON ROADS 

VERY little has ever been published concern- 
ing the only Peace Conference to which 
this country vi^as a party, at which our Govern- 
ment was represented by the President in person 
and also by the Secretary of State — and that ht- 
tle is comprised in a few brief letters and tele- 
grams submitted to Congress by Lincoln in re- 
sponse to a resolution calling for information on 
the subject. Of what actually took place at the 
conference itself (February 3, 1865), Lincoln 
gave an account in these few lines : 

On the morning of the 3d, the three gentlemen, Messrs. 
Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell, came aboard of our 
steamer, and had an interview with the Secretary of State 
and myself, of several hours' duration. No question of 
preliminaries to the meeting was then and there made or 
mentioned. No other person was present; no papers were 
exchanged or produced ; and it was, in advance, agreed that 
the conversation was to be informal and verbal merely. 

On our part the whole substance of the instructions to 
the Secretary of State, hereinbefore recited, was stated and 
insisted upon, and nothing was said inconsistent therewith; 

322 



PEACE CONFERENCE AT HAMPTON ROADS 

while, by the other party, it was not said that in any event 
or on any condition, they ever would consent to reunion; 
and yet they equally omitted to declare that they never 
would so consent. They seemed to desire a postponement 
of that question, and the adoption of some other course first 
which, as some of them seemed to argue, might or might 
not lead to reunion; but which course, we thought, would 
amount to an indefinite postponement. The conference 
ended without result. 

The foregoing, containing as is believed all the informa- 
tion sought, is respectfully submitted. 

There was also a preliminary conference with 
the Confederate commissioners at which the 
President was represented by Major Eckert, and 
of what occurred at that conference beyond the 
formal exchange of letters no account whatever 
has been given to the public. In fact, Eckert's 
reticence in regard to all confidential Civil War 
matters with which he had to do has been so 
marked as justly to entitle him to the sobriquet 
of the "Silent Eckert" bestowed upon him by 
Major Johnson, Stanton's private secretary. 
However, after the lapse of more than forty 
years, Eckert has unlocked his memory-box and 
brought to light some incidents of the Civil War 
drama in which he played an important, though 
subordinate part in relation to Lincoln, the prin- 
cipal actor. 

323 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

One of these incidents has for its subject the 
Peace Conference at City Point and Hampton 
Roads of February, 1865. Following the re- 
election of Lincoln in November, 1864, the peace 
agitators in the North ceased their active efforts 
and, in his Annual Message to Congress on De- 
cember 6, Lincoln alluded to the question in the 
briefest manner as follows: "In stating a single 
condition of peace, I mean simply to say, that the 
war will cease on the part of the Government 
whenever it shall have ceased on the part of those 
who began it." 

This postulate referring to a vital subject 
could not have been stated more clearly, or in 
shorter terms, in fact, it is axiomatic. Mr. Fran- 
cis P. Blair, Sr., was one of the most earnest and 
unselfish supporters of the peace movement. 
His fine old residence at Silver Spring, Mary- 
land, not far from where the battle of Fort 
Stevens had taken place the previous July, was 
set on fire by Early's artillery and was later con- 
verted into a hospital for our wounded soldiers, a 
large number of whom were thus hospitably 
cared for. Blair fancied he discerned something 
between the President's lines in reference to 
peace, and made the latter believe, or at least 

324 



PEACE CONFERENCE AT HAMPTON ROADS 

hope, that if given the opportunity to see Davis 
in person he could work out a plan that would 
meet the simple conditions named, and at the 
same time enable the Confederate leaders to 
"save their faces." 

The patient Lincoln trusted his old political 
friend and believed in his wisdom and skill; and, 
unwilling to cast aside the poorest chance to 
bring the war to an end, he gave Blair, on De- 
cember 28, 1864, a safe conduct through our 
lines and return, against the protest, however, of 
Stanton. Blair was soon back in Washington 
with a letter from Davis, dated January 12, 
which was shown to the President, who gave 
Blair authority to say to Davis that he had been, 
and should continue to be "ready to receive any 
agent whom he or any other influential person 
now resisting the national authority may infor- 
mally send to me with the view of securing peace 
to our common country." 

This allusion to "our common country" was 
made because Davis had referred in his letter to 
"the two countries," an idea perhaps suggested 
or at least fostered and strengthened in Davis's 
mind by the memory of Gladstone's remarkable 
speech at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in which the 

20 325 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

dominant British Cabinet Minister spoke of Jef- 
ferson Davis as having "created not only an army 
and a navy, but a nation." 

Lincoln's letter to Davis (of January 18, 
1865) was taken to Richmond by Blair and de- 
livered on January 21. On the 28th Blair was 
again in Washington, and Davis had started his 
three commissioners, Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, 
and Campbell, on their way toward Washington 
via City Point. They reached our lines on Janu- 
ary 29, but were not permitted to enter; General 
Ord, in the temporary absence of General Grant, 
telegraphing to Washington for instructions. 
On Grant's return to his headquarters, January 
31, he received a cormnunication from the com- 
missioners dated Petersburg, January 30, which 
he forwarded to Washington; but before his 
despatch was received, the President, upon Stan- 
ton's suggestion, had already selected as his rep- 
resentative to meet the Confederate agents. Ma- 
jor Eckert, who had a personal acquaintance 
with one of them.^ The instructions to Lincoln's 
ambassador on this mission were as follows : 

^ Stephens had saved Eckert from the hands of a Southern mob 
in July, 1861, as related in chapter IX. When Eckert told Lincoln 
of this incident the latter said that he remembered Stephens in 
Congress and believed him to be a fair man. 

326 



PEACE CONFERENCE AT HAMPTON ROADS 

Executive Mansion, Washington, January 30, 1865. 
Major Thomas T. Eckert: 

Sir: You will proceed with the documents placed in 
your hands, and, on reaching General Ord, will deliver him 
the letter addressed to him by the Secretary of War; then, 
by General Ord's assistance, procure an interview "ivith 
Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell, or any of them. 
Deliver to him or them the paper on which your own letter 
is written. Note on the copy which you retain the time of 
delivery and to whom delivered. Receive their answer in 
writing, waiting a reasonable time for it, and which, if it 
contain their decision to come through without further con- 
dition, will be your warrant to ask General Ord to pass 
them through, as directed in the letter of the Secretary of 
War to him. If, by their answer, they decline to come, or 
propose other terms, do not have them passed through. 
And this being your whole duty, return and report to me. 

Yours truly, A. Lincoln. 

Observe the careful wording of these instruc- 
tions. To the average man it would seem that in 
view of the experience, ability, and proved hon- 
esty of Blair, Lincoln would have ordered Grant 
to pass the commissioners through the lines and 
thence to Washington, or at least that he would 
have trusted the Lieutenant-General of the army 
to meet them and learn whether their credentials 
came within the scope of Lincoln's clearly ex- 
pressed conditions. But the subject was so com- 
plicated and so fraught with contingent dangers, 
and Stanton was so strenuous in his objections to 

327 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

the whole scheme, that only Lincoln himself or 
some one fresh from his councils who possessed 
his absolute confidence could be trusted to meet 
the shrewd and wily emissaries. He did not des- 
ignate a member of his cabinet for the respon- 
sible service, but selected the Chief of the War 
Department telegraph staff. 

Mr. Robert T. Lincoln in a letter dated June 
22, 1907, writes as follows: 

"After the visit of Mr. F. P. Blair, Sr., to Rich- 
mond, an effort was made by some gentlemen, 
sent by Mr. Davis from Richmond, to come 
through our lines and proceed to Washington 
for an interview with my father. It is a well 
known matter, of course, which occurred in Jan- 
uary, 1865. I remember my father telling me 
one evening all that had occurred up to that time 
in the matter, and his indicating to me that he 
was not feeling quite comfortable as to the way 
in which the matter was being handled at army 
headquarters at City Point; and that, therefore, 
he had that day sent 'Tom Eckert,' as he affec- 
tionately called him, with written instructions, to 
handle the whole matter of the apj^lication of 
these visitors from Mr. Davis to get into our 
lines. He said that he had selected 'Tom Eck- 

828 



PEACE CONFERENCE AT HAMPTON ROADS 

erf for this business because — to use his lan- 
guage as nearly as I can remember it— 'he never 
failed to do completely what was given him to do, 
and to do it in the most complete and tactful 
manner, and to refrain from doing anything out- 
side which would hurt his mission.' He was so 
emphatic in expressing this reason for sending 
Eckert that it made a deep impression upon me, 
and I never see General Eckert without thinking 
of it." 

Meantime, in expectation that the Confederate 
commissioners would not hesitate to accept the 
conditions outlined in his January 18 letter, Lin- 
coln had sent Secretary Seward to Fort Monroe 
with the following instructions : 

Executive Mansion, Washington, January 31, 1865. 
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State: 

You will joroceed to Fort Monroe, Virginia, there to meet 
and informally confer with Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and 
Campbell, on the basis of my letter to F. P. Blair, Esq., of 
January 18, 1865, a copy of which you have. You will 
make known to them that three things are indispensable, 
to wit: 

1. The restoration of the national authority throughout 
all the States. 

2. No receding by the executive of the United States 
on the slavery question from the position assumed thereon 
in the late annual message to Congress, and in preceding 
documents. 

329 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

3. No cessation of hostilities short of an end of the war, 
and the disbanding of all forces hostile to the government. 

You will inform them that all propositions of theirs, not 
inconsistent with the above, will be considered and passed 
upon in a spirit of sincere liberality. You will hear all 
they may choose to say, and report it to me. You will not 
assume to definitely consummate anything. Yours, etc., 

Abraham Lincoln. 

Eckert left Washington January 31, reaching 
City Point the following afternoon, and at 
10 P.M. forwarded this despatch: 

City Point, Virginia, February 1, 1865, 10 p.m. 

His Excellency A. Lincoln, President of the United 
States : 

I have the honor to report the delivery of your communi- 
cation and my letter at 4.15 this afternoon, to which I re- 
ceived a reply at 6 p.m. but not satisfactory. 

At 8 P.M. the following note, addressed to General Grant, 
was received: 

"City Point, Virginia, February 1, 1865. 
"Lieutenant-General Grant: 

"Sir: We desire to go to Washington city to confer in- 
formally with the President, personally, in reference to the 
matters mentioned in his letter to Mr. Blair, of the 18th of 
January, ultimo, without any personal compromise on any 
question in the letter. We have the permission to do so from 
the authorities in Richmond. 
"Very respectfully yours, 

"Alex. H. Stephens, 
"R. M. T. Hunter, 
"J, A. Campbell.'* 

330 



PEACE CONFERENCE AT HAMPTON ROADS 

At 9-30 P.M., I notified them that they could not proceed 
further unless they complied with the terms expressed in 
my letter. The point of meeting designated in above note 
would not, in my opinion, be insisted upon. Think Fort 
Monroe would be acceptable. Having complied with my 
instructions, I will return to Washington to-morrow unless 
otherwise ordered. Thos. T. Eckert, Major, etc. 



When Lincoln received Eckert's telegram 
stating that the reply of the Confederate com- 
missioners was "not satisfactory" he felt that as 
they were unwilling, or unable, to meet the pre- 
scribed conditions it was useless to do anything 
further in the matter, and he therefore decided to 
recall both Seward and Eckert; but before doing 
so the following cipher-despatch, timed a half 
hour later than Eckert's, was received; 

City Point, Virginia, February 1, 1865, 10.30 p.m. 

Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War: 

Now that the interview between Major Eckert, under his 
written instructions, and Mr. Stephens and party has ended, 
I will state confidentially, but not officially — to become a mat- 
ter of record — that I am convinced, upon conversation with 
Messrs. Stephens and Hunter, that their intentions are good 
and their desire sincere to restore peace and union. I have 
not felt myself at liberty to express even views of my own, 
or to account for my reticency. This has placed me in an 
awkward position, which I could have avoided by not seeing 
them in the first instance. I fear now their going back 

331 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

without any expression from any one in authority will have 
a bad influence. At the same time, I recognize the difficul- 
ties in the way of receiving these informal commissioners 
at this time, and do not know what to recommend. I am 
sorry, however, that Mr. Lincoln cannot have an interview 
with the two named in this despatch, if not all three now 
within our lines. Their letter to me was all that the Presi- 
dent's instructions contemplated to secure their safe-con- 
duct, if they had used the same language to Major Eckert. 

U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General. 

Lincoln therefore wisely determined to go in 
person to meet the commissioners/ and accord- 
ingly left for Hampton Roads about noon, Feb- 
ruary 2. On his arrival late that night he found 
things in static quo. Lincoln adds, in his ex- 
planation to Congress, "Here I ascertained that 
Major Eckert had literally complied with his 
instructions, and I saw, for the first time, the an- 
swer of the Richmond gentlemen to him, which, 
in his despatch to me of the 1st, he characterizes 
as 'not satisfactorj'-.' " 

The following are the communications ex- 
changed between Eckert and the Richmond gen- 
tlemen at the preliminary conference at City 
Point : 

* They had meantime informed Grant of their willingness to accept 
Lincoln's conditions and had proceeded to Hampton Roads to await 
the President's arrival. 

332 



PEACE CONFERENCE AT HAMPTON ROADS 

Messrs. Alex. H. Stephens, J. A. Campbell and R. M. T. 
Hunter, 
Gentlemen: — I am instructed by the President of the 
United States to place this paper in your hands, with the 
information that if you pass through the United States mil- 
itary lines, it will be understood that you do so for the pur- 
pose of an informal conference on the basis of the letter, a 
copy of which is on the reverse side of this sheet, and that, 
if you choose to pass on such understanding, and so notify 
me in writing, I will procure the commanding general to pass 
you through the lines and to Fortress Monroe, under such 
military precautions as he may deem prudent, and at which 
place you will be met in due time by some person or persons, 
for the purpose of such informal conference. And, further, 
that you shall have protection, safe-conduct, and safe return 
in all events. 

Thomas T. Eckert, Major and Aide-de-camp. 
City Point, Virginia, February 1, 1865. 

Ti T. Ti7 • Ti Washington, January 18, 1865. 

F. P. Blair, Esq. ^ '' 

Sir: You having shown me Mr. Davis's letter to you of 

the 12th instant, you may say to him that I have constantly 

been, am now, and shall continue ready to receive any agent 

whom he, or any other influential person now resisting the 

national authority, may informally send to me, with the view 

of securing peace to the people of our one common country. 

Yours, etc. A. Lincoln. 

City Point, Virginia, February 1, 1865. 
Thomas T. Eckert, Major and Aide-de-camp, 

Major: Your note, delivered by yourself this day, has 
been considered. In reply, we have to say that we were 
furnished with a copy of the letter of President Lincoln to 
Francis P. Blair, Esq., of the 18th of January, ultimo, an- 

333 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

other copy of which is appended to your note. Our in- 
structions are contained in a letter, of which the following 
is a copy: 

"Richmond, January 28, 1865. 
"In conformity with the letter of Mr. Lincoln, of which 
the foregoing is a copy, you are to proceed to Washington 
city for informal conference with him upon the issues in- 
volved in the existing war, and for the purpose of securing 
peace to the two countries. 

"With great respect, your obedient servant, 

"Jefferson Davis." 

The substantial object to be obtained by the informal 
conference is to ascertain upon what terms the existing war 
can be terminated honorably. 

Our instructions contemplate a personal interview be- 
tween President Lincoln and ourselves at Washington city, 
but with this explanation we are ready to meet any person 
or persons that President Lincoln may appoint, at such 
place as he may designate. Our earnest desire is that a 
just and honorable peace may be agreed upon, and we are 
prepared to receive or to submit propositions which may, 
possibly, lead to the attainment of that end. 

Very respectfully yours, Alexander H. Stephens, 

R. M. T. Hunter, 
John A. Campbell. 

And now we come to Eckert's account, given 
to me in conversation in the spring of 1907, of 
what took place at his interviews with the three 
Confederate Peace Commissioners at City Point 
on February 1, 1865, on board the steamer 

334 



PEACE CONFERENCE AT HAMPTON ROADS 

River Queen, the only persons present being 
Stephens, Hunter, Campbell and Eckert. 

"Quite a little time," he says, "was occupied by 
Stephens asking me how I was, what I had been 
doing, etc., because he had met me before in 1861 
and knew my cousin George in Congress. I sat 
between Stephens and Hunter. Stephens was 
very civil in his reception, more so than the 
others. He asked if they might not begin to dis- 
cuss the subject. I said 'Yes, what is the subject 
you want to discuss ?' He said, 'We of the South 
lay great store by our State rights.' I turned to 
him and said, 'Excuse me, but we in the North 
never think of that, we cannot discuss that sub- 
ject at all.' 

"I told them that all the proceedings of the 
conference must be in writing. I then sub- 
mitted a copy of my instructions from the Presi- 
dent which they took saying they would like to 
consider it and reply later. Hunter was the chief 
spokesman, but my communications were al- 
ways to Stephens, his name being the first on the 
list of three. Campbell had the least to say. He 
was, however, a close listener. Before the con- 
ference we came very near getting into a diffi- 
culty that would have forced me to have done 

335 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

something that might have raised a row, because 
General Grant wanted to be a party to the con- 
ference. I told him no. I said, 'You are the 
commanding general of the army. If 3'ou make 
a failure or say anything that would be subject 
to criticism it would be very bad. If I make a 
mistake I am nothing but a common business man 
and it will go for naught. I am going to take 
the responsibility, and I advise you not to go to 
the conference.' He finally said, 'Decency would 
compel me to go and see them.' I said that for 
the purpose of introduction I should be pleased 
to have him go with me but not until after I had 
first met the gentlemen. Grant was vexed with 
me because I did not tell him exactly what mv 
mission was. 

"Grant went with me on my second visit a few 
hours later and after he was introduced, one of the 
commissioners, I am sure it was Hunter, said to 
Grant, 'We do not seem to get on very rapidly 
with Major Eckert. We are very anxious to 
go to Washington, and INIr. Lincoln has promised 
to see us there.' General Grant started to make 
reply when I interrupted him and said, 'Excuse 
me. General Grant, you are not permitted to say 
anything officially at this time,' and I stopped 

336 



PEACE CONFERENCE AT HAMPTON ROADS 

him right there. I added, 'If you will read the in- 
structions under which I am acting you will see 
that I am right.' 

"After listening a while to what the commis- 
sioners were saying Grant got up and went out. 
He was angry with me for years afterward, and 
this has been a source of sincere regret to me, be- 
cause in his responsible position as commanding 
general of the army he had some reason for 
chagrin at the action of a mere major in ques- 
tioning his ranking authority in the presence of 
representatives of the government whose army 
he was fighting. But at the time I gave no 
thought to this feature of the case, remembering 
only my explicit orders written and oral from the 
President. When Grant was stopped from mak- 
ing a reply to Hunter he and the other commis- 
sioners doubtless thought that if they could have 
presented the matter direct to Grant they would 
likely get his approval. This view is sustained by 
Grant's telegram of 10.30 p.m., February 1, 1865. 

"At 9.30 P.M. I informed the commissioners 
that they could not proceed further unless they 
complied with the terms recited in my letter of 
instructions, their formal reply to which had 
been delivered to me at our earlier interview and 

337 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

to inform General Grant in case they concluded 
to accept the terms. I then withdrew and sent 
my cipher-despatch to President Lincoln dated 
10 P.M. Feb. 1, advising him that the reply of the 
Peace Conmiissioners was 'not satisfactory.' 
The originals of all writings at this conference 
with the three commissioners were taken to Fort 
Monroe and handed to Secretary Seward." 

One of the dangers that Stanton foresaw in the 
President's meeting with the Confederate agents 
was the fear that Lincoln's great kindness of 
heart and his desire to end the war might lead him 
to make some admission which the astute South- 
erners would wilfully misconstrue and twist to 
serve their jjurpose; and then if the conference 
were fruitless they would throw the burden of 
failure upon the President. As events turned out 
it was shown that Lincoln was fully competent 
to deal with the ablest and most adroit politicians 
of the South. Their report to Davis of the results 
of the conference could not have been ambiguous 
if we maj" judge from what he said in his message 
to the Confederate Congress of March 13, 1865, 
as follows: 

Our commissioners were informed that the Government 
of the United States would not enter into any agreement or 

338 



PEACE CONFERENCE AT HAMPTON ROADS 

treaty whatever with the Confederate States, nor with any 
single state, and that the only possible mode of obtaining 
peace was by laying down our arms, disbanding our forces, 
and yielding unconditional obedience to the laws of the 
United States, including those passed for the confiscation 
of our property and the constitutional amendment for the 
abolition of slavery. It will further be remembered that 
Mr, Lincoln declared that the only terms on which hostilities 
could cease were those stated in his message of December 
last, in which we were informed that in the event of our peni- 
tent submission, he would temper justice with mercy and 
that the question whether we would be governed as depen- 
dent territories, or permitted to have a representation in 
their Congress was one on which he could promise nothing 
but which would be decided by their Congress after our sub- 
mission had been accepted. 

We may conclude, therefore, that the main 
effect of the Hampton Roads Peace Conference 
was the demonstrating to Jefferson Davis and 
the Southern leaders that their only hope of suc- 
cess lay in Lee's army, which even then was fast 
diminishing in numbers and effectiveness, and 
which in a little over two months after the con- 
ference surrendered to Grant. 

The news of the visit of President Lincoln and 
Secretary Seward to Hampton Roads to meet 
the Confederate Peace Commissioners had been 
spread abroad by telegraph, and the newspapers 
were full of references to the matter, many per- 

339 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

sons believing, and all hoping, that a practical 
basis of settlement would be reached and the war 
soon ended. The financial market, in its nervous 
expectancy, reflected the wavering opinions and 
hopes of the public, and if the meeting had re- 
sulted favorably, there would have been instant 
response on the gold and stock exchanges of New 
York and elsewhere, and those possessing the 
earliest news would be able to buy securities and 
gold and make large profits. 

To save time, the President's party came up 
the Chesapeake Bay, instead of by the longer 
route up the Potomac. Secretary Stanton had 
provided a special engine and car to meet the 
party at Annapolis, and when they reached the 
old railroad station, the platform was crowded 
with people, all eager to catch a glimpse of the 
President. In the crowd there were many news- 
paper reporters interested in obtaining definite 
news, or even a hint, from Lincoln, Seward, or 
Eckert, as to the outcome of the momentous 
meeting. On the platform Eckert recognized an 
acquaintance, who managed to draw him aside 
and, in a hurried conversation, which he said must 
be strictly confidential, asked him for the result 
of the conference, at the same time placing in his 

340 



PEACE CONFERENCE AT HAMPTON ROADS 

hands an envelop, saying that the contents 
would recompense him for his trouble. 

After some parleying, Eckert returned to the 
car, and in Lincoln's presence opened the en- 
velop and showed him a certified check for 
$100,000, telling him how it came into his hands. 
Lincoln asked who gave it to him. 

Eckert replied: "I am not at liberty to say, but 
when the train is ready to leave, I will be on the 
platform, and hand the envelop to the man from 
whom I received it, so that you can see who he is." 
This was done, Eckert telling the man that he 
was obliged to decline the offer, and could give 
him no news of the conference. Lincoln saw the 
transaction, and recognized the man as one promi- 
nent in political affairs, and who had held a re- 
sponsible official position in one of the western 
States. 

Upon returning to the car, Lincoln remained 
silent for a long time, but afterward, when he and 
Eckert could converse together without attract- 
ing Seward's special attention, or that of Robert 
S. Chew, his private secretary, the only other 
occupants of the car, it was agreed that neither 
should disclose the incident to any one excepting 
only Secretary Stanton, Eckert contending that 
2^ 341 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

the effect on public opinion generally, and espec- 
ially as it related to the Administration, of an an- 
nouncement of such an offer having been made, 
would be very injurious at a time of such extreme 
tension, and that if the public were to learn of the 
failure of the Peace Conference without at the 
same time receiving Lincoln's own clear explana- 
tion, they would be inclined to criticize him for 
having once more defeated possibly well-meant 
efforts to bring the war to an end. 

Upon reaching Washington, Secretary Sew- 
ard's carriage took him direct to his home, while 
Eckert rode in the President's carriage. At the 
White House they met Stanton, and gave him a 
full account of the recent Peace Conference, and 
also of the incident of the certified check, and all 
three agreed that, for obvious reasons, they would 
keep the affair strictly confidential between them- 
selves. It is believed that no mention of the inci- 
dent has ever been made prior to the account 
which appeared in "The Century Magazine" for 
May, 1907, nor has the name of the person who 
made the offer ever been disclosed. 



842 



XXV 



Lincoln's last days 



DURING the last three weeks of Lincoln's 
life, that brief period in which at last he 
felt slipping from his shoulders the burden that 
for four years had pressed so heavily upon him, he 
could anticipate in the near future a happy, re- 
united country. What gladness must have filled 
his heart as with Mrs. Lincoln and his beloved 
Tad he journeyed down the quiet Potomac and 
up the placid James! He had received word 
from Grant of his purpose to close in upon Lee 
and bring the war to an end, and then followed 
this despatch, dated March 20: 

His Excellency A. Lincoln: Can you not visit City 
Point for a day or two ? I would like very much to see you, 
and I think the rest would do you good. 
Respectfully yours, etc., 

U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General, 

He eagerly responded to the call and started 
on the River Queen, convoyed by the little 

343 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

steamer Bat, Thursday, March 23, arriving at 
City Point the following evening. 

Grant directed Beckwith, his cipher-operator, 
to report to the President and keep him in touch 
by telegraph with the army in its advance move- 
ment, and with the War Department at Wash- 
ington. It may, therefore, be truthfully said that 
for the next two weeks out of the three remaining 
to him, Lincoln lived "in the telegraph office," for 
he and Beckwith were almost inseparable and the 
wires were kept busy with despatches to and from 
the President. Beckwith's tent adjoined the 
larger tent of Colonel Bowers, which Lincoln 
made his headquarters. 

It was by telegraph on Monday, after reach- 
ing City Point, that Lincoln indorsed Stan- 
ton's order of exercises to be observed at Fort 
Sumter on the anniversary of its surrender, in 
which many notable persons, including Colonel 
Robert Anderson, Admiral Dahlgren, Assistant 
Adjutant-General Townsend, Captain Gustavus 
V. Fox, the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, the Rev. 
R. S. Storrs, and others were to participate. 

The following telegram shows Lincoln's close 
attention to details and the tenacity of his mem- 
ory: 

344 



LINCOLN'S LAST DAYS 

* 

City Point, Va., March 27, 1865, 3:35 p.m. 

Hon. Secretary of War, Washington, D. C: 

Yours enclosing Fort Sumter order received. I think of 
but one suggestion. I feel quite confident that Sumter fell 
on the 13th, and not on the 14th of April, as you have it. 
It fell on Saturday, the 13th; the first call for troops on 
our part was got up on Sunday, the 14th, and given date 
and issued on Monday, the 15th. Look up the old almanac 
and other data and see if I am not right. A. Lincoln. 

The President's recollection was correct, as the 
records proved. Another illustration of Lincoln's 
aptitude for fixing dates is shown in his remark 
one day that it was his habit to fasten in his mind 
the name of the week-day on which the month 
came in, as he was thus reminded that the 15th 
and 29th occurred on the same day of the week. 
He then looked forward to the first day of the 
following month as falling on a certain day of the 
week, and so on throvigh the whole year. 

On the night of Grant's general advance 
against Lee there was a severe thunder-storm, 
rain falling in torrents, with blinding lightning 
flashes. Grant had not intended the grand move- 
ment to begin until later, but when the storm 
broke he quickly decided that one effect would be 
to drive the enemy to cover wherever possible, and 
so he told his cipher-operator at the front, A. H. 

345 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Caldwell, to transmit the order that had already- 
been prepared for the purpose, addressed to 
Meade, Sheridan, and the corps commanders, 
directing them to begin the advance at once, 
simultaneously at all points, without regard to the 
violent storm then raging. Grant sent an addi- 
tional telegram to each commander containing 
these four words only: "Let the fur fly." Cald- 
well retained in his possession this laconic de- 
spatch in Grant's handwriting, and, so far as 
known, it has not been heretofore published. In 
May, 1865, when Caldwell was in charge of the 
Richmond telegraph office, he exhibited the 
original to Mr. William H. Eckert, now of New 
York, who recently told me of the incident. 

Mrs. Lincoln remained at City Point one week, 
returning to Washington on April 1, leaving lit- 
tle Tad with his father. Grant's forward move- 
ment progressed so well that on Sunday morning 
the President telegraphed to Mrs. Lincoln some 
details of our great success. The original is shown 
in facsimile on page 347.^ 

Upon Lincoln's arrival at City Point, March 
24, Grant had offered him the choice of his two 

^Mrs. Lincoln came back to City Point on April 6, with Senators 
Sumner and Harlan and Mrs. Harlan and made a trip to Richmond. 

346 



,' ^Tx,E*T*-*| 



LINCOLN'S LAST DAYS 

favorite horses, "Cincinnati" and "Little Jeff." 
Lincoln selected the former, being the larger of 

'CpC:, fP<n^^ ^411^^^:^ a ) T-f r^/f.f^ 

HUy^ y^vv^p^ '^^^^ ^^V-e^"^ /^^ - 

Facsimile (reduced) of Lincoln's despatch to Mrs. Lincoln 
of 7:45 p. M., Aprils, 1865 

the two, as better suited to his tall form, and dur- 
ing his stay he frequently rode Cincinnati around 
the camp. He was a good rider and greatly en- 

347 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

joyed this recreation, and when Grant went to the 
front to personally direct the general assault 
upon Lee's army along a line of over thirty miles, 
he left a trusted groom in charge of Cincinnati, so 
that if the movement should prove successful, the 
President might ride out to the front. Cincinnati 
was richly caparisoned with all the Lieutenant- 
General's embellishments and insignia of rank, 
and although the President did not fully appre- 
ciate the magnificence of his mount, he admired 
the splendid action of the matchless war-horse. 

The following account of Cincinnati and Lit- 
tle Jeif , two of Grant's favorite horses, is from 
Beckwith's pen. The third one was called Egypt. 

"Grant's famous Kentucky thoroughbred 
chestnut gelding 'Cincinnati,' was presented to 
him in the hotel at St. Louis where the two 
Grants met for the first time — by chance. 

"The Cincinnati Grant sent his card, without 
explanation, reqviesting General Grant to call at 
his room. Quite puzzled. General Grant was con- 
ducted to his namesake's room, where the mystery 
was solved by the sorry grunting of a wealthy 
invalid, who said : 'General, I have a horse that I 
shall never again be permitted to ride. I would 
not sell this kind and beautiful animal to any one, 

348 



LINCOLN'S LAST DAYS 

but your appreciation of a really good horse in- 
duces me to offer him to you as a present.' 

"The majestic animal reached Chattanooga, 
richly blanketed, in charge of a groom, in Decem- 
ber, 1863. It was not, however, until the Wilder- 
ness Campaign, that 'Cincinnati' became filled 
with the martial spirit and frantic to participate 
in the turmoil of battle. In quietude this famous 
animal seemed gentle and spiritless, but the battle 
sounds stirred him with enthusiasm. No artist 
could paint the beauty of this horse in the midst of 
action, when the curb was required to hold him 
back; and this was the horse that bore Mr. Lin- 
coln as quietly as a sheep to and from Petersburg, 
April 3, 1865. 

" 'Little Jeff' was a black, shapely-limbed 
pony, 14 hands high, formerly owned by Mrs. 
Jefferson Davis, and was captured at Grand 
Gulf, Miss., in the early part of 1863. A proposi- 
tion at Chattanooga to purchase this pony re- 
sulted in Grant's response : 'We shall not remain 
long enough for you to require a purchase. Ex- 
ercise any one of my horses that you desire; 
they '11 be all the better for it.' I preferred 'Little 
Jeff' to 'Egypt' or 'Cincinnati,' and while the 
pony was speeding, his carriage was so perfect 

849 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

in his pace that I could have threaded a needle. 
On April 2, 1865, the Petersburg line was broken, 
and while our army was moving on in pursuit of 
Lee, Grant lingered at Petersburg with 'Little 
Jeff,' impatiently awaiting Lincoln's arrival. He 
came the following morning, and after an hour's 
conference with the Lieutenant-General, returned 
to City Point on 'Cincinnati.' This was Lincoln's 
last horseback ride. Meantime, 'Little Jeff,' 
carrying Grant, was speeding on to overtake the 
pursuing columns of the Anny of the Potomac. 
Grant rode 'Little Jeff' through the Appomattox 
campaign, as he had also done at Vicksburg, and 
Chattanooga. 

"When Grant became President in 1869, these 
two faithful animals were duly installed with 
honors in the White House stables. Subse- 
quently 'Little Jeff' gave Grant an occasional 
morning ride, but I never witnessed equally me- 
ritorious distinction for 'Cincinnati,' whose lofty 
spirit was demeaned by the dragging of the 
White House carriage, a duty which he so 
spurned that his fretful annoyance gained re- 
spectful recognition, and another horse was 
chosen to wear the unwelcome harness." 

In September, 1906, I sent a picture of Little 

350 



LINCOLN'S LAST DAYS 

JefF to Mrs. Jefferson Davis, thinking it would 
be a pleasure, after a lapse of so many years, to 
look once more upon the form of her old horse. 
The following acknowledgment in her own beau- 
tiful handwriting reached me later: 

Hotel Gramatan, Bronxville, N. Y., Sept. Ipth, I9O6. 
David H. Bates, Esq. 

My Dear Sir : Many thanks for the interesting picture of 
one of our well known breed of horses in which Mr. Davis 
and I took much interest. They were a cross of a noted 
Canadian racing pacer called Oliver, with several blooded 
American and English mares. I think they were all taken 
except one inferior gelding. They were without exception 
horses of wonderful speed and endurance and gaited by 
nature with the long pace which was so speedy and at the 
same time easy to the rider. 

Excuse, please, my tardy acknowledgement of your kind 
attention in sending the engravings, and believe me 

Respectfully and truly yours, 

V. Jefferson Davis. 

Mrs. Davis came to New York a few days after 
writing this letter, was taken ill, died on October 
16, and was buried at Richmond beside her hus- 
band on October 19. 

Upon Lincoln's return from Petersburg, he 
found awaiting him a telegram from the Secre- 
tary of War, pointing out the dangers which the 

351 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

President was likely to meet if he went to the 
front, as his early morning message had stated 
he would do. 

In part Stanton said: "Ought you to expose 
the Nation to the consequences of any disaster to 
yourself in the pursuit of a treacherous and 



Facsimile (reduced) of Lincoln's cipher-despatch, in which he 
announced the fall of Petersburg and Richmond 



dangerous enemy like the rebel army?" In Lin- 
coln's reply to this thouglitful warning, which is 
given in facsimile on page 353 he says: "I will 
take care of myself." 

Alas, with all his precautions and in spite of 
all the safeguards placed around his person by the 
Secretary of War and by General Grant, he was 

352 



LINCOLN'S LAST DAYS 

destined to meet death at the hands of an assassin, 
eleven days later. 

The despatch above referred to was the last 
one sent by the President before he went to Rich- 
mond the following day, and before his death, so 
far as is recorded, he sent only seven others. 








r 



/f..- 



i"* >-'^ 



l/^v,2^ \A^-^, i^A,.-^^- ,iw f'Cj .. ■ V .^ ./<'^-^^f' ^>— -^ /v^-^r., — i , 






Facsimile (reduced) of Lincoln's despatch of 5 p. ji., April 3, 1865 

On April 4, Lincoln left City Point for Rich- 
mond, accompanied by Beckwith, the faithful 
cipher-operator, who recently sent me the follow- 
ing account of the journey. 

"At 8 A.M., Tuesday, April 4, 1865, I received 
orders from Mr. Lincoln to accompany him to the 
late capital of the Confederacy, which had fallen 

353 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

into our hands the day before. I at once repaired 
to the dock, where an escort of cavalry and a four- 
horse ambulance were being embarked on the 
transport Columbus, and sat down at the cap- 
tain's desk for the purpose of completing some 
cipher-translations, supposing the President was 
already on board. The captain of the transport 
soon discovered my whereabouts and nervously 
informed me that the River Queen, with the 
President and Rear-Admiral Porter on board 
had dropped down the river in search of me and 
was then passing up. Without a moment's loss of 
time I ran ashore and hailed the nearest tug which 
then steamed up the James and by means of sig- 
nals overtook the River Queen, near Bermuda 
Hundred, where I was taken aboard and reported 
to the President. Admiral Porter, little Tad and 
Captain Penrose of the army were with him. The 
last named had been assigned by Secretary Stan- 
ton to protect the President during his stay in 
Virginia. 

"When we arrived at the lower side of the 'ob- 
structions'^ in the James, the River Queen tied 

^ It should be explained that the Confederates, during the long 
siege of their capital, had placed obstructions in the winding chan- 
nel of the James, between Richmond and City Point, leaving a 
narrow passage only, through which small vessels might pass, and 
which could be quickly closed when so desired. 

354i 



LINCOLN'S LAST DAYS 

up, while the President betook himself to the Ad- 
miral's eight-oared barge in waiting for him above 
the obstructions in tow of a tug. Mr. Lincoln di- 
rected me to follow with the cavalry escort and 
ambulance, if we could make the passage of the 
obstructions, and if not, then to bring them up to 
Richmond overland. When the President had 
left, I called the captains of the Rive?' Queen and 
Columbus into council, and they thought my sug- 
gestion feasible to drop down the stream about 
500 feet, force on full steam and jam through the 
rushing current in the narrow opening, but alas, 
while almost at the upper end of the channel, we 
were swept around and firmly held, as if spiked 
to the piling. 

"We were now stuck in the narrow opening. 
There are cheerful outlooks in nearly every condi- 
tion, but I must confess to a momentary loss of 
hope and anticipated pleasure, while thinking 
that I was to be deprived of seeing the entry into 
Richmond of our beloved President. While in 
the pilot-house, I detected the gold bands on the 
sleeves of a man of small stature aboard a tug 
coming down the James. As he came into closer 
vision, I observed that the sturdy sailor was none 
other than Admiral Farragut on the deck of his 

355 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

tug, giving personal orders for the relief of our 
beleaguered vessel. As Farragut dropped slowly- 
down, I heard his word of command, 'Get your 
hawsers ready.' The sergeant in command of the 
escort on our boat reechoed the order, 'Men, get 
your harses ready,' adding in a lower tone, 
'Phwat does he want of harses in the wather?' 

"The Admiral's tug soon pulled us through, 
and we proceeded rapidly to our destination at 
the Rocketts, two miles below Richmond. Here 
we found General Weitzel's aide-de-camp await- 
ing us. The President's party had arrived a short 
time before, and with an escort consisting of 
about a dozen sailors, had gone to Jeff. Davis's 
abandoned house, known as the 'Confederate 
Mansion,' and which was then occupied by Gen- 
eral Weitzel commanding, and by General Shep- 
ley, IMilitary Governor of Richmond. 

"Upon landing at the Rocketts, I lent my 
horse and an extra one to the two captains, who 
were eager to enter the city in style, only to learn 
a little later that both horses, frightened by the 
noise and excitement in the streets, had run away 
with them. As for myself, in charge of the Presi- 
dent's cavalry escort, which I felt sure would be 
needed in the Southern capital, all my energy 

356 



LINCOLN'S LAST DAYS 

was called forth to maintain unbroken lines 
on our journey from the wharf up the hill to 
Davis's former home. The enthusiasm of the 
colored people was something indescribable. They 
cheered us continually as we moved along, my 
ambulance preceding the cavalry escort. As our 
cavalcade approached the Confederate Mansion, 
Mr. Lincoln was seen on the piazza, and his first 
words to me, as the loud cheering continued, were 
to the effect that I had been stealing somebody 
else's thunder. 

"The President then took a drive around the 
streets of Richmond, and was everywhere greeted 
by the negroes with noisy ejaculations of joy. 
There seemed to be a sort of freemasonry among 
them, so that the news of the President's coming 
had spread like wildfire. In the afternoon our 
entire party left the mansion, the President in a 
carriage, and I maintaining my position at the 
head of the cavalry escort, immediately following, 
until we reached the landing on the James, where 
Admiral Porter's barge conveyed the President 
to the flagship Malvern for the night, after which 
I reported to General Shepley for quarters and 
rations for my horses and men. 

"At 9 o'clock the next morning, April 5, I was 
22 357 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

on hand with my escort at the landing waiting 
for the President, who soon came ashore in the 
Admiral's barge. A second drive around the city- 
was then taken, and after a visit to headquarters 
and a conference with Generals Weitzel, Shepley, 
and others, including Charles A. Dana, Assistant 
Secretary of War, and several members of the 
Virginia Legislature, we headed for the wharf 
again, and the President and party, including 
myself, boarded the Admiral's barge which was 
in readiness with the eight well-armed sailors to 
convey us to City Point, towed by a tug, as Mr. 
Lincoln had specially requested. At the mouth 
of the Dutch Gap Canal, the tug cut loose and 
passed around the nine-mile bend, while the sail- 
ors shipped their oars and took us quickly through 
the canal. Arriving at City Point, Mr. Lincoln 
immediately repaired to his accustomed desk in 
Colonel Bowers's tent, and I to my post of duty 
in the telegraph tent adjoining, where a number 
of ciphers for the President were awaiting trans- 
lation." 

As indicated in Beckwith's account, Lincoln, 
upon his return to City Point, found a batch of 
telegrams, including some from Grant at the 
front telling of the continued progress of his 

358 



LINCOLN'S LAST DAYS 

army in the pursuit of Lee's disheartened and fast 
disintegrating forces. 

At noon, the following day, Lincoln tele- 
graphed to Grant that Secretary Seward had 
been seriously injured by being thrown from his 
carriage in Washington, and that this, with other 
matters, would take him to Washington soon. 
Otherwise it is to be presumed, that notwithstand- 
ing Stanton's warning, he would have gone to 
Appomattox to be present at the surrender of 
Lee's army. The same day he telegraphed Gen- 
eral Weitzel at Richmond on the subject of a 
meeting of the "gentlemen who have acted as the 
Legislature of Virginia," for the purpose of tak- 
ing measures "to withdraw the Virginia troops 
from resistance to the General Government." 
Lincoln remained at City Point until April 8, 
when he returned on the River Queen to Wash- 
ington, where he arrived April 9, at which time 
he received Grant's welcome despatch announcing 
the capitulation of Lee. 

And now, let us go back to the morning of 
April 3, when Lincoln's despatch from City 
Point gave us in the War Department the first 
news of the capture of Petersburg and Rich- 
mond. Shortly after that message was received 

359 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

we were startled to hear our comrade, William J. 
Dealy, at Fort Monroe, say over the wire, "Turn 
down for Richmond." To one not a telegrapher 
these words would be Greek, but we all knew 
what was meant, and operator Thomas A. Laird 
at once turned down the armature spring so that 
it might respond to the weaker current from the 
more distant office and the signals thus be made 
plainer to the ear. Then came the inquiry, "Do 
you get me well?" "Yes, go ahead." "All 
right. Here is the first message for you in four 
years from 

Richmond, Va., April 8, 1865. 
Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, Washing- 
ton, D. C: We took Richmond at 8:15 this morning. . . 
The city is on fire in two places. . . 

G. Weitzel, Brig.-Gen'l Comd'g. 

Weitzel sent a similar message to Grant at the 
front, the original of which is still in the posses- 
sion of the operator who transmitted it over the 
field wire— Mr. William B. Wood, now of New 
York City. 

When Laird received the words, "From Rich- 
mond," he jumped up and ran into the cipher- 
room, leaving Willie Kettles, a lad of fifteen, the 
youngest operator in the office, to copy the 

360 



LINCOLN'S LAST DAYS 

despatch while Laird spread the glad tidings by 
word of mouth. Looking out of the windows at 
the people who were passing, the cipher-oper- 
ators leaned as far out as possible and shouted, 
"Richmond has fallen." 

During the following week the wires were kept 
busy with messages relating to the task of re- 
storing order in the former capital of the Con- 
federacy and with other messages from Grant 
possessing a deeper interest, until on April 9, we 
were rejoiced to hear of the surrender at Appo- 
mattox. We knew then that the war had ended, 
and a new era had begun. Lincoln had already 
started from City Point, reaching Washington 
on the evening of the 9th. The political situa- 
tion was uppermost in his mind, and in order that 
he might begin at once "to bind up the Nation's 
wounds," he sent immediately for Governor 
Pierpoint, of Virginia, his first telegram after ar- 
rival being the following: 

Executive Mansion, Washington, April 10, 1865. 

Governor Pierpoint, Alexandria, Va. : Please cx>me up 
and see me at once. A. Lincoln. 

On the following evening, at the White House, 
he delivered his carefully prepared, written 

361 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

speech, touching particularly on the Louisiana 
situation. This was his last public address, and 
the writer had the pleasure of listening to it on 
his way home from the War Department. 

On the morning of Wednesday, April 12, he 
came over to the telegraph office and wrote two 
telegrams, both relating to Virginia legislative 
matters, and to complete this record they are 
given in full below : 

Washington, D. C, April 12, 1865. 
Ma jor-General Weitzel, Richmond, Va. : I have seen 
your dispatch to Colonel Hardie about the matter of 
prayers. I do not remember hearing prayers spoken of 
while I was in Richmond; but I have no doubt you have 
acted in what appeared to you to be the spirit and temper 
manifested by me while there. Is there any sign of the 
rebel legislature coming together on the understanding of 
my letter to you? If there is any such sign, inform me 
what it is; if there is no such sign, you may withdraw the 
offer. A. Lincoln. 

Weitzel's reply not being conclusive, Lincoln 
then wrote his last telegraphic despatch, using 
for the purpose a Gillott's small barrel pen — No. 
404— borrowed from Albert Chandler: 

Washington, D. C, April 12, 1865. 
Major-General Weitzel, Richmond, Va. : I have just 
seen Judge Campbell's letter to you of the 7th. He as- 
sumes, as appears to me, that I have called the insurgent 

362 



LINCOLN'S LAST DAYS 

legislature of Virginia together, as the rightful legislature 
of the State, to settle all differences with the United States. 
I have done no such thing. I spoke of them, not as a legis- 
lature, but as "the gentlemen who have acted as the Legisla- 
ture of Virginia in support of the rebellion." I did this on 
purpose to exclude the assumption that I was recognizing 
them as a rightful body. I dealt with them as men having 
power de facto to do a specific thing, to wit: "To withdraw 
the Virginia troops and other support from resistance to the 
General Government," for which, in the paper handed 
Judge Campbell, I promised a specific equivalent, to wit: a 
remission to the people of the State, except in certain cases, 
of the confiscation of their property. I meant this, and no 
more. Inasmuch, however, as Judge Campbell misconstrues 
this, and is still pressing for an armistice, contrary to the 
explicit statement of the paper I gave him, and particularly 
as General Grant has since captured the Virginia troops, so 
that giving a consideration for their withdrawal is no longer 
applicable, let my letter to you and the paper to Judge 
Campbell both be withdrawn, or countermanded, and he be 
notified of it. Do not allow them to assemble, but if any 
have come, allow them safe return to their homes. 

A, Lincoln. 

When this despatch was passed over to us, 
we quickly transcribed its contents in the cipher- 
book, hne after line and column after column, 
little thinking that it was the last message we 
should ever receive from his hands. Soon it was 
in form for transmission to the cipher-operator 
at Richmond, and then the end of our association 
with the great President had come. 

363 



XXVI 



THE ASSASSINATION 



I IMMEDIATELY after Lee's surrender, and 
without waiting to witness the details attend- 
ing the transfer of the enemy's arms and prop- 
erty, General Grant started for Washington, 
where he arrived on April 13. That evening had 
been set apart for an illumination of the city in 
honor of our victories, and the expected end of 
the war. The chief interest centered about the 
White House, and Secretary Stanton's residence 
on K Street, at both of which places large crowds 
of people assembled. Extra precautions were 
taken by the authorities to protect the President 
and Lieutenant-General against expected at- 
tempts to kidnap or kill them, because of secret 
service reports that plans had been made to ac- 
complish such evil designs during the excitement 
of that occasion. Grant was present at Stanton's 
reception and, but for the safeguards provided, 

364 



THE ASSASSINATION 

it is more than likely that the efforts of O'Laugh- 
lin, one of the conspirators, to enter Stanton's 
house and execute his murderous task, might have 
been successful. John C. Hatter, now of Brook- 
lyn, one of the War Department telegraph staff, 
testified at the trial of the conspirators in May, 
1865, that one of them— Michael O'Laughlin— 
was in the crowd at Stanton's house the night of 
the illumination, and had tried to enter. In fact, 
he reached the front hall, but Hatter, who was 
uneasy over his presence, induced him to leave. 

It was mainly on the strength of Hatter's 
testimony that O'Laughlin was found guilty. 
He died in prison at Dry Tortugas, Florida, 
September 23, 1867. 

On the day of the illumination, Mrs. Lincoln 
made plans for a small theater-party on the fol- 
lowing evening, Friday, April 14, to see Laura 
Keene play the part of Florence Trenchard in 
"Our American Cousin." Lincoln reluctantly 
acceded to Mrs. Lincoln's request that he should 
be present, and suggested that General and Mrs. 
Grant be invited to join the party. 

The invitation was given and accepted, but 
when Stanton heard of it he made a vigorous 
protest, having in mind the numerous threats of 

365 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

assassination which had come to his notice through 
secret service agents and otherwise. 

Lincoln made light of all these signs, but Stan- 
ton realized the seriousness of the situation, and 
told Grant of his fears, urging him not to go to 
the theater and, if possible, to dissuade Lincoln 
from going. It was Stanton's idea that if it were 
announced that the Lieutenant-General and the 
President were to attend Ford's Theater to- 
gether there would be a large crowd present, and 
evil-disposed persons would be better able to 
carry out their plans. 

Grant agreed with Stanton, and said he only 
wanted an excuse not to go. He concluded, 
therefore, to send word to Lincoln that as he had 
not seen his daughter Nellie for a long time he 
would withdraw his acceptance of the invitation 
and start on Friday afternoon for Burlington, 
New Jersey, where his daughter was attending 
school. 

On the morning of the 14th, Lincoln made his 
usual visit to the War Department and told 
Stanton that Grant had cancelled his engage- 
ment for that evening. The stern and cautious 
Secretary again urged the President to give up 
the theater-party, and, when he found that he 

366 



THE ASSASSINATION 

was set on going, told him he ought to have a 
competent guard. Lincoln said: "Stanton, do 
you know that Eckert can break a poker over his 
arm J 

Stanton, not knowing what was coming, looked 
around in surprise and answered: "No; why do 
you ask such a question?" Lincoln said: "Well, 
Stanton, I have seen Eckert break five pokers, 
one after the other, over his arm, and I am think- 
ing he would be the kind of man to go with me 
this evening. May I take him?"^ 

Stanton, still unwilling to encourage the thea- 
ter project, said that he had some important 
work for Eckert that evening, and could not 
spare him. Lincoln replied: "Well, I will ask 
the Major myself, and he can do your work to- 
morrow." He then went into the cipher-room, 
told Eckert of his plans for the evening, and said 
he wanted him to be one of the party, but that 
Stanton said he could not spare him. "Now, 
Major," he added, "come along. You can do 
Stanton's work to-morrow, and Mrs. Lincoln and 
I want you with us." 

Eckert thanked the President but, knowing 

^ The incident of breaking the stove pokers is described in 
chapter IX. 

367 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Stanton's views, and that Grant had been in- 
duced to decline, told the President he could not 
accept because the work w^hich the Secretary re- 
ferred to must be done that evening, and could 
not be put off. 

"Very well," Lincoln then said, "I shall take 
Major Rathbone along, because Stanton insists 
upon having some one to protect me ; but I should 
much rather have you. Major, since I know you 
can break a poker over your arm." 

It is idle to conjecture what might have been 
the result if the alert and vigorous Eckert had 
accompanied Lincoln to Ford's Theater that 
night. Had he done so the probabilities are that 
in view of Eckert's previous knowledge of the 
plot to kidnap or kill the President, Booth might 
have been prevented from firing the fatal shot, 
and Lincoln spared to finish his great work. 

As is well known Lincoln went to the theater 
in the evening with Mrs. Lincoln, Miss Harris, 
daughter of Senator Ira Harris of New York, 
and INIajor Rathbone, a stepson of the senator. 

During the course of the play, a few minutes 
after ten o'clock, John Wilkes Booth entered the 
theater lobby and passed round the dress-circle 
to the door of the box where Lincoln's party were 

368 



THE ASSASSINATION 

seated, picked up a bar of wood that he had 
previously provided and placed it in position for 
use as a brace. When he entered the box and 
closed the door after him the brace fell into a slot 
in the wall, thus preventing the door from being 
opened from the outside. 

At 10: 20 P.M. Booth, using a Derringer pistol 
and exclaiming: ^'Sic semper tyrannis" as he 
fired, shot the President in the back of his head, 
and then, shaking himself loose from Major 
Rathbone who had grappled with him, jumped 
over the box to the stage, about seven feet below. 
As he fell the spur which he wore caught in the 
folds of the American flag which draped the 
front of the box and caused him to break his 
ankle. 

The whole affair was so sudden and startling 
that the crowded audience appeared to be dazed, 
and although some of the clearer-headed persons 
tried to seize the assassin the confusion was so 
great that he managed to escape through the left- 
hand exit from the stage, and, mounting a horse 
that was being held ready by Spangler, one of 
the conspirators, rode ofiF unmolested toward the 
bridge over the eastern branch of the Potomac, 
where he was met by Herold, another conspi- 

369 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

rator. Together they rode through lower Mary- 
land, while the whole North, aroused to fury, was 
trying to track them and the other assassins: 
Payne, who murderously assaulted Secretary 
Seward; Atzerodt, to whom was assigned 
the task of killing Vice-President Johnson; 
O'Laughlin, who was to kill Grant, and the other 
conspirators who took minor parts in the great 
tragedy. 

I remember the long night of Friday, April 
14, that black day in our country's history, when 
the hate and cruelty embodied in four years of 
bloody war culminated in a stroke of madness, 
aimed at the life of one who had only "charity for 
all with malice toward none." Although I was 
on duty in the cipher-room that evening, I have 
no distinct remembrance of anything that oc- 
curred prior to the moment when some one 
rushed into the office with blanched face saying, 
"There is a rumor below that President Lincoln 
has been shot in Ford's Theater." Before we 
could fully take in the awful import, other 
rumors reached us, horror following fast upon 
horror: the savage attack upon Secretary Sew- 
ard, and the frustrated efforts to reach and kill 
Vice-President Johnson, Secretary Stanton and 

370 



THE ASSASSINATION 

other members of the Government. As the suc- 
cessive accounts crystalhzed, a fearful dread 
filled our hearts, lest it should be found that the 
entire cabinet had been murdered. After an 
hom* of this awful suspense, we received word 
from Major Eckert, who had gone quickly to 
Secretary Stanton's house on K Street, and from 
there with the Secretary to the house on Tenth 
Street, opposite the theater, to which the Presi- 
dent had been carried after having been shot by 
John Wilkes Booth. This message merely as- 
sured us of the present safety of Stanton, while 
confirming our worst fears concerning the Presi- 
dent. Two of my comrades were in the audience 
at the theater, Thomas A. Laird, now of Buffalo, 
and George C. Maynard, now assistant curator of 
the Smithsonian Institute. Laird ran to Eck- 
ert's house on Thirteenth Street to give him the 
news, while Maynard came to the War Depart- 
ment. Both men remained on duty all night with 
Chandler and myself. 

A relay of mounted messengers in charge of 
John C. Hatter was immediately established by 
Eckert, and all night long they carried bulletins 
in Stanton's handwriting addressed to General 
Dix, New York City, which were at once given to 

871 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

the Associated Press and flashed over the wires 
throughout the country. As these bulletins 
were spelled out in the Morse telegraph char- 
acters, our hearts were stunned and yet seemed 
to be on fire. The awfulness of the tragedy 
hushed us into silence. As the hours slowly 
passed, hope revived fitfully as some sen- 
tence offered faint encouragement that the pre- 
cious life might perhaps be spared to complete 
its chosen work; but at last, about 7:30 a.m., 
April 15, the tension gave way, and we knew 
that our beloved President was gone from us for- 
ever. 

The news of the tragedy reached Grant at 
Philadelphia, as he was about to take the ferry- 
boat for Camden. He continued his journey to 
Bm-lington with Mrs. Grant, returning to 
Washington immediately with Beck with, his ci- 
pher-operator. The latter remained in Wash- 
ington until April 22, when he was ordered to 
the lower Potomac to establish communication 
with the several parties in that vicinity who were 
searching for Booth, for the capture of whom the 
large reward of $100,000 had been offered. It 
was reported that Booth's route of escape was 
through Maryland, toward Point Lookout, and 

372 



THE ASSASSINATION 

a force, including 600 colored troops, com- 
manded by Major James R. O'Beirne, was sent 
from Washington to capture the assassins. 
Beckwith went with this detachment and opened 
an office at Port Tobacco, from which place he 
sent a number of telegrams, one of which gave 
the Washington authorities the earliest authentic 
clue to Booth's immediate whereabouts, and in 
part read as follows : 

Port Tobacco, Md., April 24th, 1865. 

10 A.M., received 11a.m. 
Major Eckert: Have just met Major O'Beirne, whose 
force has arrested Doctor Mudd and Thompson. Mudd set 
Booth's left leg (fractured), furnished crutches, and helped 
him and Herold off. They have been tracked as far as the 
swamp near Bryantown. ... S. H. Beckwith. 

Stanton ordered a small body of picked men 

under Lieutenant E. P. Doherty of the 16th New 

York Cavalry to start for Port Tobacco, leaving 

Washington on the steamer John S. Ide, at four 

o'clock, arriving at Belle Plain, seventy miles 

below Washington, at ten o'clock. The men and 

their horses disembarked, and the whole party 

struck out on the trail, and by midnight they had 

tracked Booth and Herold across the river into 
23 3^3 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 








-^■fc*-y 



ht- 






-C-TSJ- 





Facsimile, on this and the following page, of the manuscript of Sec- 
retary Stanton's order to the armies for honoring the 
memory of the murdered President 

The original is in the possession of David Homer Bates who first wrote the mes- 
sage from Stanton's dictation, after which the latter revised 
it extensively with his own hand 



374 



THE ASSASSINATION 

Virginia, where they were discovered concealed 
in a barn, which was set on fire for the purpose of 
forcing the fugitives from its shelter, and, as is 
well known, Booth was shot by Sergeant 
"Boston" Corbett, of Company L, 16th New 










cXji^iJ -vTV^flva, 



-L^-(U^ ^ 









York Cavalry, Herold having surrendered pre- 
viously. 

Corbett was born in London. He was a mem- 
ber of the old Attorney Street Methodist Church, 
New York, before he enlisted. The writer met 
him one night in the summer of 1865 at Foundry 

375 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Church, Fourteenth and G streets, Wasliington, 
where he testified regarding his religious experi- 
ence. He appeared to be very quiet and rather 
morose. Years afterward his mind gave way, 
and he was committed to an asylum, where he died. 

It is believed that all of the conspirators were 
apprehended. As before stated, John Wilkes 
Booth was shot near Port Royal, Virginia, on 
April 26. Lewis Thornton Powell (alias 
Payne), George A. Atzerodt, David E. Herold, 
and Mrs. Mary E. Surratt, were hung at the 
Washington arsenal July 7, 1865. Samuel Ar- 
nold, Edward Spangler, Michael O'Laughlin, 
and Dr. Samuel A. Mudd were sentenced to im- 
prisonment for varying terms at Dry Tortugas, 
Florida. 

John H. Surratt, who had evaded arrest, went 
abroad, served in the Papal Zouaves at Rome, 
was apprehended, and escaped, and later went to 
Egypt, where he was arrested, brought to the 
United States and, in 1867, placed on trial for 
his part in the conspiracy. The jury disagreed, 
and when he was arraigned the second time he 
was discharged by the court. 



876 



XXVII 

PAYNE, THE ASSASSIN 

IN a previous chapter reference was made 
to the finding by Eckert on November 26, 
1864, the day after the attempt of the conspira- 
tors to burn New York City, of a letter addressed 
to a man called Payne with directions regarding 
the assassination of certain persons, and also a 
picture of Lincoln with a red ink-mark around 
the neck and down the shirt-front. The connec- 
tion of Payne the assassin with these documents 
was made certain six months afterward, on his 
own confession. 

Payne's real name was Lewis Thornton Pow- 
ell. He enlisted in the Confederate army from 
Florida, where his father, a Baptist minister, 
then resided. At Gettysburg, in July, 1863, he 
was wounded and taken prisoner. He escaped 
from the hospital in Baltimore, after falling in 
love with his nurse, and returned to the Confed- 
erate army, but about a year later came North, 

377 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

either to meet his sweetheart, or as a deserter or 
spy, probably the latter, in view of his connection 
with the Lincoln picture above referred to, and 
also in view of his association with Booth in the 
plot to kill Lincoln and his cabinet. 

Payne was a remarkable man, mentally and 
physically. His limbs and muscles were finely 
formed and developed, and when in the prison- 
ers' dock on trial, clad as to upper garments only 
in a tight-fitting knit shirt, his stalwart figure 
was almost gladiatorial in its clean-cut robust- 
ness. His face was sphinx-like in its immobility, 
and the steady gaze of his dark, expressive eyes 
gave one the impression of a man of coldly-calcu- 
lating, daredevil disposition, whom fate had de- 
creed to reckless deeds and now to death, and 
who was without remorse. This naturally stolid 
man, fired with the spirit of revenge by the fate 
of his native South and the death of his two 
brothers killed in battle, was but a tool in the 
hands of the impulsive and romantic Booth. 

Until then no high ofl^cial of our Government 
had ever suffered attack by would-be assassins. 
The shock to the country was terrific. Might not 
others of our rulers also be struck down as Lin- 
coln and Seward had been, and our Ship of State 

378 



PAYNE, THE ASSASSIN 

be driven from its moorings without pilot or an- 
chor? Great fear and anxiety were felt by every 
one, and chiefly by Stanton, who deemed it a 
matter of vital importance to unravel quickly the 
threads of the murderous plot, and thus prevent 
further trouble. But how to proceed was a puz- 
zle. Booth was dead, Atzerodt was foreign-born, 
stupid, and hard to understand. Herold, Ar- 
nold, Spangler, Mrs. Surratt, and O'Laughlin 
all acted subordinate parts and, it was reasoned, 
might not know of Booth's real plans. Payne 
was the only one of the seven supposed to have 
enjoyed the full confidence of the arch conspira- 
tor, and he was silent and imperturbable, answer- 
ing no questions, refusing all but a bare modicum 
of food, and even resisting one of the demands of 
nature. In this latter respect, the inactive period 
was prolonged to an extraordinary extent, every 
possible means being employed by the attending 
physician to induce normal action. 

Secretary Stanton sent Assistant Secretaries 
Dana and Eckert to the monitor Saugus, where 
Payne was confined in irons, in the hope that he 
might be led to talk. Dana soon tired of the task, 
but Eckert persevered in his efforts to break 
down the barriers between them, and for several 

379 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

days kept vigil, remaining with the prisoner al- 
most constantly during the day, and for hours 
uttering no word, but keeping his eyes upon 
Payne and waiting for the moment of victory 
over the assassin's iron will. One day the pro- 
vost marshal in command tried to have a picture 
taken of Payne, who moved his head from side to 
side to hide his face. The officer, angered by his 
failure, struck at Payne's arm with his sword or 
cane. Eckert told the officer he had no authority 
for striking a prisoner, or even for taking his pic- 
ture. In this he was upheld by Secretary Stan- 
ton, who directed that Payne should be placed in 
Eckert's custody, and he so remained until the 
day of his execution. At the next meeting of the 
two, Payne said that the remark to the officer 
who struck him was the first sympathetic expres- 
sion he had heard for many months. 

When Eckert told Payne of his finding the 
letter hereinbefore referred to, Payne said that it 
had been lost at the time of the conspirators' at- 
tempt to burn the city in November, 1864. He 
added that he knew of the scheme, and had been 
designated to set fire to one of the hotels, but had 
refused to be a party to a crime involving injury 
and probably death to innocent parties who had 

380 



PAYNE, THE ASSASSIN 

no connection with the Government, and had, in- 
stead, gone to the Winter Garden Theater to see 
the three Booths in Shakspere's "Juhus Ceesar." 

Under instructions from the Secretary of War 
each of the conspirators on the Saugus was fitted 
with a hood over the head, with an opening for 
the nose and mouth, so that they might not com- 
municate with each other. Their place of con- 
finement was in the anchor-well at the bow of the 
boat. They were manacled, but were not con- 
fined separately in rooms or cells, there being no 
such facilities on the vessel. 

Payne had asked for some tobacco, which Eck- 
ert did not have, but he obtained some before his 
next visit, and then in Payne's presence cut off a 
piece and put it into his own mouth, meantime 
watching Payne, whose eyes were fixed on the 
coveted morsel. Eckert then cut off a liberal 
piece and slipped it through the opening in the 
hood into Payne's mouth. The prisoner said that 
he never had anything to taste so good as that 
piece of tobacco. 

When the time came to remove the prisoners 
to the arsenal prison, Eckert accompanied Payne 
with the guard. Payne's feet had swollen so that 
he could not wear his shoes, and a pair of carpet 

381 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

slippers were provided which gave him much re- 
Uef. As they neared the gang-plank of the ves- 
sel it was necessary for each one to lower his head 
to prevent being struck by a cross-piece, the tide 
being very low. It was pitch-dark, the transfer 
being made at night. Payne could not see the 
obstruction and Eckert placed his hand on 
Payne's head and pressed it down so as to pre- 
vent his striking the cross-piece. 

It was after one of these incidents that Payne 
broke down, and confided many details of 
Booth's plot, which were of such a character as 
to lead to the belief that, with the exception of 
John H. Surratt, who was apprehended in 
Egypt two years later, all the conspirators were 
then under lock and key, and that no further 
trouble might be expected from that source. 

Even after Eckert had obtained Payne's con- 
fidence, the latter still withheld information 
bearing on his own part in the conspiracy, wait- 
ing for a promise not to testify against him. He 
was told that such a promise could not be made, 
but later Payne gave a few details. 

One Baltimore rendezvous was in a gambling- 
place on Monument Square near Guy's Hotel. 
The secretary of the meeting was a physician on 

382 



PAYNE, THE ASSASSIN 

Fayette Street, near-by. Eckert went to Balti- 
more by the first train, and consulted the doctor 
for indigestion, and while he went into an ad- 
joining room to write a prescription, Eckert qui- 
etly pocketed a picture of the good physician, 
which was standing on the mantelpiece, and on 
his return to Washington showed the picture to 
Payne, who identified it. Eckert also went to 
the Washington rendezvous, on D Street, near 
the railroad station, and inquired for a room for 
meetings. A colored woman in charge offered 
him the very room which Payne had described, 
and said it had been used for meetings. From 
her story, it was learned just when Booth and 
his band had been there, although she evidently 
had no inkling of the diabolical plot which was 
being laid by her tenants. The room was large 
and had a grate at one end. It had not been 
cleaned up thoroughly, papers and dust having 
been swept toward the hearth and under the 
grate. Eckert poked with his cane until he had 
separated the scraps of paper from the debris and 
afterward, by pasting the pieces together, made 
out portions of a resolution evidently having ref- 
erence to an abduction, and which, it was be- 
lieved, had been written by Booth. 

383 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

Among the debris was also found a scrap of 
paper bearing the name of Mudd. Dr. Mudd 
living in lower Maryland had set Booth's broken 
ankle during his flight toward Virginia and had 
been arrested on April 21 as one of the conspira- 
tors. On the trial, Mudd was found guilty and 
sentenced for life to Dry Tortugas but was par- 
doned by President Johnson in 1869, after 
nearly four years' imprisonment. 

Payne told Eckert of three occasions when he 
was close to Lincoln and could have shot him if 
so inclined. Once, during the winter of 1865, 
Booth and Payne had walked through the White 
House grounds in the daytime. Booth urged 
Payne to send a card in to Lincoln, using any 
name that he might see fit, and when he went into 
the room to shoot the President. Pavne said he 
refused, and Booth berated him soundly for cow- 
ardice. 

At another time, when Lincoln was making a 
speech from the White House, Booth and Payne 
were in the crowd of listeners and Booth asked 
Payne to take out his revolver and fire. Payne 
said, "No, I will not do it." Again Booth 
damned Payne and urged him to commit the 
deed then and there, saying that the crowd was 
so great that it could be done without detection, 

384 



PAYNE, THE ASSASSIN 

but Payne was obdurate, not yet having screwed 
his courage up to the point of murder. It is more 
than Hkely this was on April 11, on the occasion 
of Lincoln's Louisiana speech, which I heard him 
deliver. 

The third occasion was under the following 
circumstances : Payne suddenly turned to Eckert 
and said, "Major, were you not the man walking 
with the President through the White House 
grounds late one frosty night last winter?" 
Payne said that he was secreted behind the 
bushes in front of the old conservatory where the 
executive offices now stand, waiting for Lincoln 
to return from the War Department. There had 
been a light rain and it then got colder and there 
was a crust of ice so that it crackled under one's 
foot. Payne said he heard footsteps from the di- 
rection of the War Department, and when the 
persons got nearly opposite where, he was hiding 
he saw Lincoln and another man coming along 
the walk, and heard the President say, "Major, 
spread out, spread out, or we shall break through 
the ice." 

The two then stopped, and Lincoln told of an 
incident when he was a young man. The nearest 
grist-mill to his father's house was seven or eight 
miles distant and the custom was to take the 

385 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

grain to the mill and wait for it to be ground and 
then carry the meal back home, leaving a per- 
centage for the miller. He said on one occasion 
during a very cold spell he and a party of neigh- 
bors were returning from the mill with their bags 
and they came to the Sangamon Creek, which 
was frozen over so that they could cross on it, but 
when they were part way over the ice cracked, 
and some one said, "Spread out, spread out, or 
we shall break through the ice." Eckert told 
Payne that he recalled the incident, that he was 
with President Lincoln that night, and had 
walked home with him many other nights from 
the War Department to the White House. 

John C. Hatter, heretofore mentioned, told 
me in July, 1907, that near the end of 
1864 he accompanied the President from the 
War Department to the White House at two 
o'clock in the morning. The weather had 
changed from rain to sleet and there was a coat 
of ice on the ground. Wlien the gate outside the 
War Department (opposite the present execu- 
tive offices) was opened to let the President pass 
through they heard a sound as of some one run- 
ning along the fence, and over the frozen ground. 

Upon examining the fence they found three 

386 



PAYNE, THE ASSASSIN 

palings removed which Hatter said were not out 
of place in the evening when he came on duty. 
Mr. Lincoln said: "What was that noise?" 
Hatter answered that it sounded like some one 
running through the bushes toward the conser- 
vatory. 

The President asked Hatter not to say any- 
thing to any one about the incident, and they re- 
sumed their walk to the White House. Hatter 
says that he never mentioned the subject, except 
to Secretary Stanton, who had heard of it 
through some other source and asked for the 
facts. 

In reply to my inquiry on the subject, Rear- 
Admiral Asa Walker, superintendent of the Na- 
val Observatory at Washington, wrote me on 
July 30, 1907, that the Observatory records show 
the following : 

December 14, 1864. Commenced hailing at 12:25 a.m., 
and changed to rain in 20 minutes after, and sleet. 

January 21, 1865. Began raining moderately at 8:50 
A.M. Changed soon into sleet, continuing until 9 p.m. or 
later. Stopped before midnight. . . . The formation 
of a crust on the snow would probably not be mentioned in 
our records. 

It seems probable that in the last two cases 
mentioned by Payne, his purpose was frustrated 

387 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

by the fact that Lincoln had a companion on his 
journey through the White House grounds. It 
is also likely that Lincoln's departure for City 
Point, on March 23, 1865, prevented the con- 
spirators from carrying out their murderous 
plans at that time.^ They were on the watch, 
however, and within five days after his return to 
Washington they finally succeeded. 

'^ See the account of William H. Crook in "Harper's Magazine"' 
for June, 1907, page 48. 



888 



XXVIII 



Lincoln's manner contrasted with stanton's 



SECRETARY STANTON'S private secre- 
tary, Major A. E. H. Johnson, in conver- 
sation with the writer in April, 1907, said that 
in deahng with the pubhc, Lincoln's heart was 
greater than his head, while Stanton's head was 
greater than his heart. This characterization, 
though general, contains a great deal of truth. 
But we must not forget that the crystallized 
opinion of the present generation is that on all 
the important questions of public policy and 
administrative action, where Stanton's views were 
opposed to those of Lincoln, the latter dominated 
his energetic War Secretary. Indeed, one of Lin- 
coln's latest biographers has entitled his volume 
"Lincoln, Master of Men," and has marshaled 
facts and documents which seem to demonstrate 
that on essential points Lincoln's will was 
stronger than Stanton's. 

It is a fact, however, that during the three and 
24 389 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

a quarter years of their close official relations the 
two men worked in almost entire harmony. 
There never appeared, to the writer's observa- 
tion, any real conflict between them. It suited 
both to treat the public each in his own char- 
acteristic way, and when in any case the pinch 
came, each knew how far to yield to the other 
without sacrifice of prerogative. 

One incident may be cited to show the oppos- 
ing characteristics of the two men. The scarcity 
and very high price of cotton, especially to ward the 
end of the war, had the effect of leading certain 
Northerners to engage in the somewhat question- 
able work of buying up cotton through certain 
agencies in the border States with the resultant 
effect of supplying needed funds to the South 
and establishing lines of communication which 
were used in many cases for conveying military 
information to the enemy. Accordingly, the 
War Department issued stringent orders on this 
subject which were, of course, criticized by the 
cotton speculators, one of whom, about May, 
1864, appealed to Lincoln for the purpose of 
inducing him to overrule Stanton's order in his 
particular case and allow a large amount of cot- 
ton, already bought and paid for, to come 

390 



LINCOLN AND STANTON 

through our Knes. Lincoln heard the man's 
story and dechned to intervene, but upon being 
further importuned gave his autograph card with 
an introduction to Stanton. The man went over 
to the War Department, presented the card and 
told his story, whereupon Stanton tore up the 
President's card, threw it into the waste-basket, 
and said: "The orders of this Department will 
not be changed." 

The speculator, who was a man of considerable 
prominence, went immediately back to the White 
House and told of his reception, using strong 
language and censuring Stanton severely. 

"Mr. President," said he, "what do you think 
Stanton did with your card?" 

"I don't know," said Lincoln, "tell me." 

"He tore it up and threw it into the waste- 
basket. He is not a fit man to be your Secretary 
of War." 

"Did he do that?" replied Lincoln; "well, 
that 's just like Stanton." 

In the afternoon, in the presence of Major 
Eckert, the President gave the Secretary of War 
an account of the incident, evidently with great 
enjoyment, and without taking the slightest ex- 
ception to Stanton's course. 

391 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

There was a marked contrast between Lin- 
coln's manner, which was always pleasant and 
even genial, and that of Stanton. The latter's 
stern, spectacled visage commanded instant re- 
spect and in many cases inspired fear. In receiv- 
ing visitors, and they were legion, Stanton sel- 
dom or never sat down, but stood before a high 
desk as the croM^ passed before him and one by 
one presented their requests or complaints, which 
were rapidly disposed of. He was haughty, 
severe, domineering, and often rude. When I 
think of him in the daily routine of his public 
audiences, the characterization of Napoleon by 
Charles Phillips, the Irish orator, comes to mind : 
"Grand, gloomy, and peculiar." 

The almost overwhelming burden of the great 
struggle for the life of the nation was ever press- 
ing upon Stanton's heart and brain, and he even 
begrudged the time which he believed was wasted 
in ordinary civilities and was impatient with 
every one who failed to show like zeal and alert- 
ness with himself. He was not blessed with Lin- 
coln's happy facultj'- of story-telling or exchang- 
ing badinage, which to the latter was a God- 
given means of relief from the awful strain to 
which he was subjected. And yet there were 

392 




From a photograph by Davis and Eickeiiieyer, taken in May, 1907 

Charles Almerin Tinker David Homer Bates 

Cipher-operator, War Department Manager and cipher-operator, War Depart- 
telegraph office, 1861-1869 ment telegraph office, 1861-1866 

Thomas Thompson Eckert Albert Brown Chandler 

Chief of the War Department Telegraph Cashier and cipher operator. War Depart- 

Staff, 1861-1866 ment telegraph office, 1863-1866 



LINCOLN AND STANTON 

times when even Stanton would soften and when 
he would disclose a kindly nature, the knowledge 
of the possession of which would come as a sharp 
surprise to any one fortunate enough to be pres- 
ent on such an occasion. 

One instance in my recollection occurred after 
what seemed to me an unusual outburst of temper 
visited upon my innocent head. This was in con- 
nection with the receipt of the sensational Sher- 
man-Johnston Peace Agreement which reached 
Washington on April 21, 1865 (only six days 
after Lincoln's death), the contents of which 
were of such an extraordinary character as to 
cause Stanton to become intensely excited. In 
fact, every high official of the Government, not 
excluding General Grant, was amazed at Sher- 
man's action in signing such an agreement. 
Major A. E. H. Johnson has told me that Secre- 
tary Stanton on one occasion, when he was dis- 
cussing the subject, said that President Johnson 
at the historical conference on the evening of 
April 21, in Representative Hooper's house, ^ 
after hearing Stanton read over his "Nine Rea- 
sons why the Sherman-Johnston Agreement 

1 President Johnson had not yet moved into the White House. 
The Hooper house was later altered into a hotel — the Shorehani. 

395 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

should be rejected by the Government," re- 
marked that Sherman was a traitor. 

In preparation for this hastily called cabinet 
meeting, Stanton called me in from the cipher- 
room and asked me to write from his dictation, 
the regular clerical staff of the secretary's office 
having gone home for the day. Although as a 
telegrapher I was a rapid penman, my task was 
not an easy one, for the great War Secretary's 
sentences came tumbling from his lips in an im- 
petuous torrent and it was impossible for me to 
keep up the pace he set. In fact, even a short- 
hand writer would probably have stumbled, so 
that breaks were frequent and equally annoying 
to both of us. I did my best, but lost some words 
and transposed others, so that the fiery dic- 
tator was forced to go back several times in his 
train of thought and reconstruct sentences, and 
in doing so here and there he used phrases dif- 
ferent from those in his original composition. 
The final result was therefore unsatisfactory, and 
Stanton in his eagerness snatched the manuscript 
from my hands, with some remarks that would 
not look well in print. 

Taking a pen in his hand and dipping it vigor- 
ously into the inkstand he proceeded to rewrite 

396 



LINCOLN AND STANTON 

a considerable part of the document himself. 
Having done this, he read it over to me carefully 
and then had me write a new copy entire, while 
he paced back and forth across the room impa- 
tient of the fast-speeding minutes, and occasion- 
ally looking over my shoulder to see how far I 
had progressed. At last the final copy was ready, 
and I handed it to him and started to go into the 
cipher-room adjoining, when he called me back 
and, placing his hand affectionately on my shoul- 
der, said, "I was too hasty with you, Mr. Bates. 
The fault was mine in expecting you to keep up 
with my rapid dictation; but I was so indignant 
at General Sherman for having presumed to enter 
into such an arrangement with the enemy, that I 
forgot everything else. I beg your pardon, my 
son." 

Another incident occurs to my mind, showing 
how very thin was the outer crust of his harsh 
manner and how readily at times it could be 
broken so as to reveal the inherent kindness of 
his heart. 

One evening, in the summer of 1864, I rode 
out to the Soldiers Home with important de- 
spatches for the President and Secretary of War, 
who were temporarily domiciled with their fami- 

397 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

lies in cottages on the grounds of the Home. I 
found Stanton rechning on the grass, playing 
with Lewis, one of his children (now living in 
New Orleans). He invited me to a seat on the 
greensward while he read the telegrams; and 
then, business being finished, we began talking 
of early times in Steubenville, Ohio, his native 
town and mine. One of us mentioned the game 
of "mumble-the-peg," and he asked me if I could 
play it. Of course I said yes, and he proposed 
that we should have a game then and there. 
Stanton entered into the spirit of the boyish 
sport with great zest, and for the moment all the 
perplexing questions of the terrible war were 
forgotten. I do not remember who won'. 

My comrade, Wilson, tells of a somewhat simi- 
lar experience with Lincoln, in his "From the 
Hudson to the Ohio" (page 46). In the fall of 
1861, Wilson had gone to the White House with 
an urgent despatch from Governor Morton of 

Indiana, which the President concluded to an- 
swer by means of a direct wire-talk from the War 
Department. Wilson adds : 

Calling one of his two younger boys (Willie or Tad) to 
join him, we three started. ... It was a warm day, and 
Mr. Lincoln wore as part of his costume a faded linen duster 

398 



LINCOLN AND STANTON 

which hung loosely around his long gaunt frame ; his kindly 
eye was beaming with good nature. . . . We had barely 
reached the gravel walk before he stooped over, picked up a 
round, smooth pebble and shooting it off his thumb, chal- 
lenged us to a game of "followings," which we accepted. 
Each in turn tried to hit the outlying stone which was con- 
stantly being projected onward by the President. The 
game was short but exciting . . . and when the President 
was declared victor it was only by a hand-span. . . . He 
softened our defeat by attributing his success to his greater 
height and longer reach of arm. 

Although to his family and chosen friends, 
and, on rare occasions, to others, Stanton dis- 
closed a warm, tender heart, yet in the daily 
routine of the War Department he was intensely 
in earnest, and required of every one else a like 
zeal and devotion and an utter sacrifice of self 
and of personal comfort whenever the interests 
of the Government were concerned. He hated 
disloyalty and had no patience with critics of his 
administration. Accordingly he was brusk and 
many times rude to newspaper men, members of 
Congress and others who applied to him for news 
or favors or who called upon him in support of 
claims that had already been rejected. 

In contrast, Lincoln freely told to callers the 
contents of despatches from the armies, and 
there were some occasions on which he disclosed 

399 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

to the public in advance information relating to 
army manceuvers of special importance, which 
leaked through to the enemy, with the result of 
defeating our plans. So it came to pass that we 
were ordered by Stanton not to place in the 
cipher-drawer copies of despatches which told 
of expected army movements, or which related 
to actual or impending battles, until after he 
had first seen them; and in some instances the 
Secretary retained both copies to make sure their 
contents should not be prematurely published. 

Lincoln's keen eves soon discovered that there 
was undue reticence in our attitude toward him, 
and without criticizing our course, he would ask 
us occasionally, with twinkling eyes, whether the 
Secretary of War did not have some later news, 
or if there were not "something under the blot- 
ter." Of course we could not deceive him and 
he would then go to the adjoining room and ask 
Stanton if he had anything from the front. 
Sometimes he addressed Stanton as "Mars," but 
while the stern Secretary gave no indication of 
displeasure at this playful allusion to his official 
character, he did not, on the other hand, allow 
a smile to brighten his face. 

Early in February, 1862, the morning after 

400 



LINCOLN AND STANTON 

the interview referred to in chapter IX, when 
Stanton, in the presence of President Lincoln 
and Governor Brough of Ohio, tore up Eckert's 
resignation, Lincoln called on the latter at Mc- 
Clellan's headquarters and, referring to the inter- 
view, said that he was glad to have been able to 
testify concerning Eckert's attention to duty, 
adding that Stanton's manner was very peculiar, 
but that he was all right when people came to 
know him. He said that he was a most remark- 
able man ; that he first became aware of his great 
abilities when they met years before in Cincinnati 
in the McCormick Reaper case, in which Lincoln 
and Stanton had been retained for the defense; 
and that after he had heard Stanton's masterly 
presentation of that case he said to one of his asso- 
ciates that he was going home to study law, as 
he had found out, after hearing Stanton, that he 
knew very little about it. 

In his "Recollections of President Lincoln" 
(page 186), L. E. Chittenden says that at the 
moment of Lincoln's death, Stanton uttered this 
eulogy: "There lies the most perfect ruler of men 
the world has ever seen." 

In August, 1865, Stanton left Washington for 
a few weeks' vacation, the first he had been per- 

401 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

mitted to take for five years. I accompanied him 
as cipher-operator. He visited Simeon Draper, 
Collector of the Port, and a Mr. Duer at New 
York, Isaac Bell at Tarrytown, a Mr. ^linturn 
at The Highlands, New Jersey; Samuel Hooper 
at Boston, and a Mr. Hone at Newport. This 
respite was greatly enjoyed by Stanton. During 
Stanton's absence on this trip our chief. General 
Eckert, the Assistant Secretary, became the Act- 
ing Secretary of War. Stanton's death occurred 
December 24, 1869, the year following his pro- 
tracted and bitter struggle with President John- 
son, and at the very time that President Grant 
had offered him the much-coveted prize of a seat 
on the Supreme Court bench. He lived and died 
a relatively poor man. In the writer's opinion it 
is a nation's shame that his extraordinary services 
to his country in her time of stress and need have 
not been suitably recognized by the erection of 
a monument to his memory at the nation's capital. 
General ISIcClellan has been so honored recently, 
and at Richmond Jefferson Davis and Generals 
Lee and Stuart are also remembered, but our own 
great War Secretary to whom the country owes 
so much has apparently been forgotten. 

Eckert always commanded the full confidence 

402 



LmCOLN AND STANTON 

of President Lincoln and Secretary Stanton, and 
was intrusted with military and state secrets and 
charged with special commissions not at first dis- 
closed to the cipher-operators, who were justly 
proud of their Chief. 

Although holding a commission Eckert never 
wore an officer's uniform. His appointment as 
Assistant Secretarj^ of War, really took effect in 
March, 1865, although the official date is given as 
July 27, 1866. In this connection, and as show- 
ing the high appreciation in which he was held by 
both Lincoln and Stanton, it is proper to state 
that in August, 1865, when the Western Union 
and American Telegraph companies M^ere about to 
be consolidated, he was offered a prominent posi- 
tion with the joint companies and tendered his 
resignation to Secretary Stanton, who was about 
to leave Washington on the vacation referred to 
on page 401. Stanton started to write an ac- 
ceptance, but Eckert observed that he was evi- 
dently laboring under strong feeling, and said 
that if the Secretary preferred to have him re- 
main for another year, he would do so. Stanton 
gladly accepted this offer and laid aside the docu- 
ment on which he was engaged. He then re- 
sumed his vacation plans, placing Eckert in 

403 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

charge as Acting Secretary of War from August 
15, to September 23, 1865. I was selected as 
cipher-operator to accompany Stanton on this 
trip, which occupied five weeks. 

A year later when Eckert entered the service 
of the Western Union Company, Stanton handed 
him an envelop containing the partly finished 
acceptance of his resignation, dated August 7, 
186 , and another autographic communication 
over his signature bearing only the year date, 
1866. The latter had been written by Stanton 
in anticipation of Eckert's departure and laid 
aside until July 31, 1866, the day Eckert left 
Washington for his new duties, and Stanton did 
not then stop to insert the full date. 

Stanton's remark at the time these letters were 
delivered to Eckert was, "Don't open the envelop 
until you reach New York." The second of these 
communications is here shown in facsimile. 



War Department 
Washington City, 

,, ^ ^ Aug. 7, 186 . 

My Dear Friend: 

The acceptance of your resignation as Assistant Secre- 
tary of War is one of the most painful events of my life, 
not only because it severs official relations that have given 
me great aid and comfort in the performance of my duties, 

404 



i\ M (A»vtt> \M^ q(>«;.V ^-^v'.K •&*. 1 <x-i-, e« .xrtv"^v.-. I ••* d 

^\tv- v\><k% V^xHA' VjJX\-*^^* rv \Vt/irA»*¥Xfc* , *\\W/«. vvii. n». *\i-^* (Nr\<'**»i 
UViV.i"" \ M\ .i>ju\ IaI- v» W-v»»>, 4>^-t»t''^ U o^ (AnJi^v-u fiUAixv. 1>'^W...- 



Facsimile (reduced) of Secretary Stanton's letter accepting 
Major Eckert's resignation 



LINCOLN AND STANTON 

but also sunders to some extent the close personal relations 
and daily intercourse between us that has so long existed. 
It would be a vain effort to express the full confidence and 
depth of affection my heart entertains towards you. The 
highest and most responsible trust of the Government dur- 
ing the war you, as Superintendent of Military . . . 

War Department 
Washington City, 
186 . 
My Dear Sir: 

It is with very great regret that I am constrained out of 
regard for your own personal interest and welfare to accept 
your resignation as Acting Secretary of War and Superin- 
tendent of Military Telegraphs. My personal and official 
intercourse with you will always be among the most pleasing 
recollections of my life. Your zeal, fidelity and laborious 
diligence for years to the prejudice of your health and com- 
fort, contributed much to the successful operations of this 
Department during the War of the Rebellion. You have 
had and well deserved my unlimited confidence. To your 
discretion and patriotic fidelity the most important and con- 
fidential interests of the Government were often entrusted, 
and the trust reposed in you was never betrayed or per- 
verted. You had the good fortune to have enjoyed the per- 
sonal regard and confidence of our late beloved President 
Abraham Lincoln to a degree seldom bestowed. 

It is with feelings of profound sorrow, and with my 
thanks for your inestimable aid, that I bid you an official 
farewell. Yours truly, 

Edwin M. Stanton, 
Secretary of War. 

Brevet Brig General Thomas T. Eckert. 

407 



LINCOLN IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE 

On August 1, 1866, General Eckert entered 
the service of the Western Union Telegraph 
Company as general superintendent of the east- 
ern division, afterward becoming general man- 
ager, and later president. He is now chairman 
of the board, and although eighty-six years of 
age, is still active and vigorous. While he is stern 
and at times implacable toward those who have 
deviated from the path of rectitude, below the sur- 
face there beats a heart full of warm affection for 
his chosen friends and of unswerving loyalty to 
whatever cause he may espouse. The surviving 
members of his staif of cipher-operators in the 
War Department— Tinker, Chandler, and my- 
self — have been associated with him in business 
positions of trust and responsibility for many 
years. The quartet has not yet been disturbed 
by the grim reaper Death, although we some- 
times fancy we can hear him sharpening his 
scythe, as we journey down the narrowing lane 
of life. 

The writer could wish that this desultory account 
of "Lincoln in the Telegraph Office" were more 
worthy of the subject. The task, though some- 
what arduous, has been a pleasant one. It has 

408 



LINCOLN AND STANTON 

called back to memory conversations and inci- 
dents through which there was revealed to the ci- 
pher-operators in the War Department tele- 
graph office, more fully perhaps than to others, 
Lincoln's simple yet varied and lofty character, 
which has since become the object of wonder and 
admiration of the civilized world: his marvelous 
tact in the handling of men and the settlement 
of complex questions ; his skilful leading of pub- 
lic opinion into broader channels; his control of 
great events ; his gathering up of the fruits of po- 
litical conflict, and, above all, his boundless charity 
for and deep sympathy with the common people. 
Ever since the first announcement in "The 
Telegraph Age" of a purpose to prepare an ac- 
count of Lincoln in the telegraph office, the wri- 
ter's comrades in the military telegraph service 
in all parts of the country have freely tendered 
full and interesting data in their own experience, 
and this occasion is availed of to thank them most 
sincerely for their valuable help ; the only regret 
being that the limits of this volume have made it 
necessary to leave out so much that would have 
been of general interest. 



25 



409 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX 



To Chapter II 

In Senate Document Number 251, Fifty-eighth Con- 
gress, 2d Session, may be found a general, but quite 
clear, idea of the organization, scope, and service of the 
United States Military Telegraph Corps during the 
Civil War. The documents therein quoted by General 
Ainsworth begin with the order of Simon Cameron, Sec- 
retary of War, dated April 27, 1861, placing Colonel 
Thomas A. Scott in charge of railways and telegraphs 
and end with an extract from the annual report of 
Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, dated November 
22, 1865. 



To Chapter VII 

See Page 110 

The full story of the mutilation of McClellan's tele- 
gram to the Secretary of War of June 28, 1862, is told 
for the first time by Major A. E. H. Johnson, Stanton's 
confidential clerk and custodian of military telegrams 
during the war, in a letter to the writer. He says : 

When the telegram was received in cipher and translated^ 
Major Eckert, chief of the War Department telegraph 
stafFj sent for Colonel Edwards S. Sanford, military super- 
visor of telegrams, and asked him to decide what should be 

413 



APPENDIX 

done. The charge against Secretary Stanton contained in 
the two paragraphs at the close of the despatch was false 
and while it was doubtful whether the censor had authority 
to suppress a telegram from the commanding general of the 
army addressed to the Secretary of War, yet this one con- 
tained such an outrageous untruth that the censor thought 
he ought not to allow himself to be used to hand it to the 
Secretary in that form. Colonel Sanford thereupon caused 
the despatch, minus the offensive words, to be recopied and 
delivered to Secretary Stanton, who took it in person to 
President Lincoln. Neither Lincoln nor Stanton knew of 
the mutilation and both acted upon it in ignorance of the ter- 
rible charge against them which it had previously contained. 
The first copy of the telegram as received was destroyed. 
The mutilated copy published in the Rebellion Records was 
taken from the collection made to be delivered to Stanton at 
the close of the war. It may also be found on page 302, 
Vol. I. of the Report of the Committee on the Conduct of 
the War, in connection with General Hitchcock's testimony 
in the McDowell court of inquiry. 



To Chapter VIII 

See Page 118 

The "Story of the Monitor'' by W^ilHam S. Wells 
(late engineer United States Navy), pages 14 and 77, 
mentions a conference at Washington in 1861 between 
President Lincoln, Captain G. V. Fox, Assistant Secre- 
tary of the Navy, and other members of the Naval 
Board, and John A. Griswold, John F. Winslow, and 
Cornelius S, Bushnell (the last three later becoming 
the contractors for building Ericsson's turret vessel, 
the Monitor). At this conference a pasteboard model 

414. 



APPENDIX 

of Ericsson's invention was shown, and its merits and 
peculiar advantages discussed. 

Colonel William Conant Church, in his "Life of John 
Ericsson," page 249, also refers to this conference, and 
quotes from a letter of Bushnell dated March 9, 1877, 
to Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, containing 
the following extract: 

All were surprised at the novelty of the plan; some ad- 
vised trying it, others ridiculed it. The conference was fi- 
nally closed by Mr. Lincoln remarking: 'All I have to say 
is what the girl said when she put her foot into the stocking, 
'It strikes me there 's something in it.' " 

In a foot-note Colonel Church says: 

Mr. Bushnell was given a pasteboard model of the Moni- 
tor, admirably illustrating the easy method of training the 
guns by rotating the turret. It was this that struck Mr. 
Lincoln and which he held in his hand when he remarked 
about the girl and her stocking. 

It is of interest to recall that Lincoln's early expe- 
rience with light-draft flat-boats on shallow western 
rivers qualified him to speak with authority on the 
subject when the model of the Monitor was shown to 
him. 

Major A. E. H. Johnson, who was employed in Edwin 
M. Stanton's patent law office before the war, and who 
still practises his profession in Washington, D. C, 
writes, June 7, 1907, that the model of Lincoln's inven- 
tion described in Letters Patent, Number 6469, granted 

41.5 



APPENDIX 

May 22, 1849, for a "Method of Lifting Vessels over 
Shoals," is still preserved in the Patent Office at Wash- 
ington. Major Johnson adds that "instead of being a 
freak invention as claimed by some, it was a pioneer 
conception in the art of navigation, and the air-tight 
compartments of our great sea-going ships are valid 
proofs of the utility of Lincoln's air-chamber device. 
If this be true, Lincoln should be classed among the 
great inventors of the nineteenth century." 

The basic value of Lincoln's invention is emphasized 
by the salvage of the twelve-thousand-ton vessel, the 
Bavarian, shipwrecked in the St. Lawrence near Quebec 
on the night of November 3, 1905, after repeated ef- 
forts had been made to float her by various methods. 
When more than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars 
had been expended by the owners, the Bavarian was 
turned over to the underwriters, who also spent a large 
amount of money without satisfactory result. Then 
Robert King and William Witherspoon, two young 
engineers who had done more or less tunnel and caisson 
work by means of compressed air, tackled the problem, 
and on November 16, 1906, the great Bavarian was 
raised and a half million dollars saved to the under- 
writers. In their last analysis the methods employed 
in this case resemble, in principle, the somewhat crude 
devices in the patent of Abraham Lincoln. 

See Page 123 

Captain Samuel, H. Beckwith, General Grant's cipher- 
operator, has recently sent the writer a copy of one of 
President Lincoln's characteristic laconic despatches, 
which he does not recall having seen in print, as follows : 

416 



APPENDIX 

General Philip H. Sheridan, 
Winchester, Virginia. 
General Grant telegraphs me that if you push the enemy 
you can force Early out of the Shenandoah Valley — Push 
him. A. Lincoln. 

The copy bears no date, but Beckwith says, "I wit- 
nessed the writing and transmission of the despatch, 
which to my knowledge has not been heretofore pub- 
lished. I think it was before Fisher's Hill where Sher- 
idan did 'push him,' capturing nearly all of Early's 
guns. When Sheridan's despatch announcing this vic- 
tory was handed to Grant, I inquired if there was any- 
thing more that Sheridan could take. Grant's silent, 
pleasant smile assured me of his victory over the wise 
men at Washington who had claimed that Sheridan was 
'too young' for the great responsibilities which Grant 
had placed upon him." 



To Chapter XII 

See Pagre 159 

The following incident indicates Lincoln's great in- 
terest in Rosecrans's victory at Stone's River : 

In January, 1863, not long after the battle, Rose- 
crans wrote a letter to the President stating his position 
in detail and the need of reinforcements, which was 
carried to Washington by Captain George C. Kniffin 
of General Crittenden's staff, and handed to Lincoln 
in person. In his War Paper, Number 47, read at the 
meeting of the Loyal Legion, Commandery of the 
District of Columbia, on March 6, 1903, Colonel Kniffin 

417 



APPENDIX 

gives an account of that interview from which the fol- 
lowing extract is taken: 

An intense earnestness exhibited itself in his anxious in- 
quiry, "Are you from Murfreesboro?" "Yes, Mr. Presi- 
dent; and I am the bearer of an important despatch from 
General Rosecrans," which I handed to him at once, and 
noting the legend "Personal" on the envelop, he placed it 
in his pocket. We were alone in the room. He motioned 
me to a seat and pushed a sheet of paper toward me with 
the remark: "Now tell me all about it." "About what?" 
Suddenly the thought occurred to me to describe the battle 
of Stone's River. . . . Improvising a ruler with my staff 
sword, I drew two lines crossing each other at an acute an- 
gle, which represented the railroad and turnpike leading 
from Nashville to Murfreesboro. I then drew, from mem- 
ory, a map which I still think was a tolerably correct rep- 
resentation of the topography of the country. I aligned the 
troops under Rosecrans across the turnpike and railroad as 
they went into bivouac on the night of December 30, 1862. 
I stationed the batteries of artillery and gave the position of 
the cavalry. Then I gave as nearly as possible the position 
and strength of the enemy. The President took an absorb- 
ing interest in my work as it progressed, asking questions, 
which I answered as intelligently as possible. I then de- 
scribed the battle, how we repulsed the final charge of 
Breckenridge and drove them back pell-mell into Murfrees- 
boro and compelled Bragg to evacuate the place. I spoke 
rapidly, and during my recital the President sat motionless. 
When I had finished, for the first time I raised my head 
and looked about me. Standing, peering over each other's 
shoulders at the map of the battle-field which I had drawn, 
listening so intently that I was not aware of their presence, 
was an august assembly, members of the cabinet and of the 

418 



APPENDIX 

Senate and House, all of sufficient prominence to be ad- 
mitted to the President's room without the formality of an 
introductory card. I was greatly embarrassed, but was 
speedily reassured by the kindhearted President, who intro- 
duced me to each gentleman present. 



To Chapter XIII 

The following despatches relate to the transfer of 
Hooker's two army corps to Chattanooga for the rein- 
forcement of Rosecrans : 



Camden Station, Md., Sept. 27, 1863. 
Edwin M. Stanton, 

Secretary of War, 

Washington, D. C. 
Our agent at Grafton has orders to hold all the 3rd Di- 
vision, 11th Corps, until General Schurz arrives. 

W. P. Smith. 



War Department, Washington, D. C. 

Sept. 27, 1863, 9:40 p.m. 
Major-General Carl Schurz, 
Fairmont, W. Va. 
Major-General Hooker has the orders of this department 
to relieve you and put under arrest any officer who under- 
takes to delay or interfere with the orders and requisitions of 
the railroad officers in charge of the transportation of 
troops. 

Edwin M. Stanton, Secy, of War. 

419 



APPENDIX 

Sept. 27, 1863, 9:40 p.m. 
W. p. Smith, General Manager, 

Baltimore 8f Ohio Railroad Co., 

Camden Station. 
I have telegraphed Schurz that he will be relieved and 
put under arrest if he undertakes to interfere with the 
trains. You need not have furnished him an extra but let 
him and any of the other officers who lag behind get along 
the best they can. 

Edwin M. Stanton, Secy, of War. 

Baltimore, Md., Sept. 27, 1863, 11 p.m. 
Edwin M. Stanton, 

Secretary of War, 

Washington, D. C. 
. . It is only by a wilful delay by our operator at 
Grafton of Schurz's message to Fairmont that the deten- 
tion of the troops there was avoided. 

W. P. Smith. 

The above official correspondence from the Rebellion 
Records, Vol. XXIX, will surely indicate that the suc- 
cessful movement of so large a body of troops for so 
great a distance in an incredibly short period of time 
was only possible by keeping the transportation wholly 
under the control of the railroad officers themselves. It 
also shows how narrow an escape General Carl Schurz 
had from being placed under arrest for his attempted 
interference with the trains. Immediately upon 
Schurz's arrival at Bridgeport, Alabama, October 1, 
1863, he wrote a long letter to Secretary Stanton ex- 
plaining his action, which communication was forwarded 
to Washington by General Howard, corps commander, 

420 



APPENDIX 

with an indorsement favorable to Schurz. There Is no 
record that Stanton ever rephed to Schurz's letter. 



To Chapter XIV 

In a letter to the editor of "The Century Magazine," 
Captain D. V. Purington, of Chicago, says: 

Mr. Bates's reference in the July "Century" [1907] to 
the fact that not all the stories attributed to Mr. Lincoln 
were really his^ calls to my mind a little incident that cor- 
roborates Mr. Bates's position. 

Early in the winter of 1864-5^ President Lincoln visited 
the Army of the Potomac and the Army of the James. Gen- 
eral Godfrey Weitzel was at that time commanding the 25th 
Army Corios, and Dutch Gap was within the limits of his 
command. Mr. Lincoln desired to see this particular work 
of the army engineers, j!^ rrangements were made^ and he 
was escorted from corps headquarters by General Weitzel 
and his entire staff, of which the writer was a junior mem- 
ber. On the return of the party, Mr. Lincoln was invited to 
lunch with the General and his staff. It was my privilege 
to be seated at the table immediately opposite the President, 
and to listen to the conversation between him and General 
Weitzel. After we had all enjoyed some story of Mr. Lin- 
coln's (which I am sorry to have forgotten), General Weit- 
zel said: "Mr. President, about what proportion of the 
stories attributed to you really belong to you.''" 

Mr. Lincoln replied: "I do not know; but of those I have 
seen, I should say just about one half." 

The percentage of genuine to the whole number of 
so-called Lincoln stories has probably decreased con- 

421 



APPENDIX 

siderably since the President's estimate of "about one 
half." 



To Chapter XVIII 

See Page 252 

Brigadier-General J. P. S. Gobin, in a paper read at 
the memorial meeting of the Pennsylvania Commandery 
of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, Philadel- 
phia, February 13, 1907, makes the following reference 
to Lincoln's presence at Fort Stevens on July 12, 1864: 

L. E. Chittenden, in his "Reminiscences" says that when 
he reached the Fort, he found the President, Secretary 
Stanton and other civilians. A young colonel of artillery, 
who appeared to be the officer of the day, was in great dis- 
tress because the President would expose himself and paid 
little attention to his warnings. He was satisfied the Con- 
federates had recognized him, for they were firing at him 
very hotly, and a soldier near him had just fallen from a 
broken thigh. He asked my advice, says Chittenden, for he 
said the President was in great danger. After some consul- 
tation the young officer walked to where the President was 
looking over the edge of the parapet and said: "Mr. Presi- 
dent, you are standing within range of five hundred rebel ri- 
fles. Please come down to a safer place. If you do not, it 
will be my duty to call a file of men and make you." 

"And you would do quite right, my boy," said the Presi- 
dent, coming down at once. "You are in command of this 
fort. I should be the last man to set an example of disobe- 
dience." He was shown to a place where the view was less 
extended, but where there was almost no exposure. As Mr. 
Chittenden was present and speaks from personal know- 
ledge, this is assumed to be a correct statement. 

422 



APPENDIX 
To Chapter XX 

See Page 281 

President Lincoln's proclamation announcing the ad- 
mission of Nevada into the Union was signed and dated 
October 31, 1864, immediately after the full text of 
Nevada's constitution had been telegraphed from 
Nevada City to Washington. The transmission of this 
long document required the use of the wires all day 
October 30 (Sunday), and all that night. This course 
was taken in order that Nevada's electoral vote might 
be counted in the Republican column. 



To Chapter XXVI 

Jefferson Davis, in his "Rise and Fall of the Confed- 
erate Government," page 683, says concerning Lin- 
coln's assassination, the news of which was received 
by him from General Sherman on April 18, 1865, at 
Charlotte : 

For an enemy so relentless in the war for our subjugation, 
we could not be expected to mourn, yet, in view of the politi- 
cal consequences, it could not be regarded otherwise than as 
a great misfortime to the South. . . . 



To Chapter XXVIII 

See Page 395 

The following communication from Major A. E. H. 
Johnson is of historic interest in connection with the 
fierce controversy between President Johnson and Sec- 

423 



APPENDIX 

retary Stanton, in which Generals Grant and Sherman 
were also involved : 

Washington, D. C, August 23, 1907. 
Mr. David Homer Bates, New York City. 

Dear Sir: Referring to your request to give you what in- 
formation I have of the cabinet meeting April 21, 1865, at 
which the Sherman-Johnston terms of surrender were re- 
jected, and particularly, whether President Johnson spoke 
of Sherman as a "traitor" at that meeting, I know that Sec- 
retary Stanton, in speaking of the matter some years after, 
said that Johnson referred to the terms as being "close to 
treason." I never heard Secretary Stanton speak of 
that cabinet meeting but once, and that was at the time 
President Johnson brought General Sherman to Washington 
to help him get rid of Stanton as Secretary of War. The 
President knew that Sherman would be glad to pay Stanton 
back for what he did in publishing his "nine reasons" for 
the rejection of the agreement, and as the reasons were 
published at the time in the name of the President, he 
caused the White House reporters to deny that he knew of 
Stanton's reasons until he saw them in the press the morn- 
ing of their publication and that he had authorized their 
publication, so that Sherman might see it as the President 
wanted, that he might use him in the Johnson-Grant-Sher- 
man fight to oust Stanton. The occasion when the Secretary 
spoke of this cabinet meeting and what was said of Sher- 
man, was to Senator Wilson of Massachusetts and Congress- 
man Kelley of Pennsylvania, who were discussing with the 
Secretary the presence of Sherman in Washington in con- 
nection with the President's efforts to oust Stanton. Stan- 
ton told them that the President wanted Sherman to think 
that he had nothing to do with the publication of the rea- 
sons for the rejection of the terms and tliat the President 

424 



APPENDIX 

was using the reporters for that purpose; but that he was 
taking good care not to tell them that at that meeting he had 
said of the terms that they were "close to treason" and that 
Sherman was a "traitor"; and that the terms would put the 
rebel leaders^ fresh from treason, in control of Congress 
and in the making of the laws. 

This was just what the President then wanted to do by 
ousting Stanton; and while all the cabinet denounced the 
terms, the President's denunciation was the strongest; and it 
was the President who directed that General Grant be or- 
dered to go at once to take command of the army and give 
battle again to Joe Johnston. 

Yours very truly, 

A. E. H. Johnson. 



26 



425 



INDEX 



Act of January 26, 1897: Mili- 
tary Telegraphers' Certifi- 
cates, 36 
Anderson, Robert, 344 
Arnold, Samuel, 379 
Atlantic Cable, 257 et seq. 
Atwater, Henry H., 253, 265 
Atzerodt, George A,, 83, 370 
et seq. 

B 

Baker, Edward D., 93 et seq. 

Baldwin, George W., 46 

Barr, Samuel F., 21 

Battle of Antietam, 142; Bull 
Run, 88, 118; Chickamauga, 
158; Fort Stevens, 250; Fred- 
ericksburg (campaign), 58; 
Gettysburg, 154; Nashville, 
310; Stone's River, 159; 
Vicksburg (siege), 155; Wil- 
derness, 244 

Beauregard, P. T., 91 

Beckwith, Samuel H., 8, 56, 344 
et seq., 372 et seq. 

Beecher, Henry Ward, 241, 344 

Bell, Isaac, 402 

Benjamin, Judah P., 72 et seq., 
81, 85, 294, 305 

Black Hawk War, 122 

Blair, Francis P., Sr., 324 et 
seq. 

Boker, George H., 225 

Booth, Edwin, 307 

Booth, John Wilkes, 83, 306, 
369, 378 

Booth, Junius Brutus, 307 

Bovay, A. E., 150 

Bowers, T. S., 187, 344, 358 

Boyd, Joseph W., 47 

Bragg, General, 163 et seq. 

Bragg, Thomas, 153 

Bright, John, 196 



Brough, John, 136, 401 
Brown, Samuel M., 14 
Buell, M. V. B., 47, 212 
Burnside, Ambrose E., 58 et 

seq., 287 
Burt, Silas W., 190 
Bushnell, C. S., 247 
Butler, Benjamin F., 19, 21, 28, 

86 



Cable, Atlantic, 257 et seq.; to 
Gulf of Mexico, 257 et seq. 

Cadwallader, General, 237, 238 

Caldwell, A. H., 56, 107, 346 

Cameron, Simon, 16, 20, 54, 
88, 277 

Cammack, J. H., 72 et seq. 

Campbell, J. A., 322 et seq., 
362, 363 

Carnegie, Andrew, 14, 20, 93, 
173 179 311 

Carpenter,' F. B., 141, 189, 210 

Chandler, Albert Brown, Lin- 
coln at Fort Stevens, 252; 
Lincoln's anxiety after Get- 
tysburg, 157; Lincoln's last 
despatch, 362; on duty night 
of April 14, 1865, 371; oper- 
ates new signals, 265 

Chase, Salmon P., 143 

Cheney, J. W., 39 

Chittenden, L. E., 401 

Church, W. C, 117 

Cipher-codes, Confederate, 68; 
Federal, 49 

Clay, Clement C, 80 et seq., 
291 et seq. 

Clowry, Robert C, 35 

Cochrane, 269 

Colburn, A. V., 107 

Confederate, attempt to burn 
New York, 299; cipher-codes, 
68; operator on Union wire. 



427 



INDEX 



59 et seq.; secret service, 181, 
287 

Conover, Sanford, 308 

Conventions of 1864, Demo- 
cratic, August, 270; Inde- 
pendent, May, 269; Repub- 
lican, June, 267 

Cooper, Edward, 271 

Corbett, Boston, 375 

Corning, Erastus, 288 

Crazygrams, 170 

D 

Dahlgren, John A., 28, 86, 314 
Dana, Charles A., 39, 75, 78, 82, 

84, 161, 172, 189, 204, 358, 379 
Davis, Admiral, 265 
Davis, Jefferson, 79, 83 et seq., 

182, 203, 205, 289 et seq., 325 

et seq. 
Davis, Mrs. Jefferson, 351 
Dealy, William J., 360 
Dimmick, Colonel, 265 
Dix, John A., 230, 238, 300 
Dodge, Granville M., 9 
Doherty, E. P., 373 
Doolittle, James R., 155 
Draft Riots in New York, 168 
Draper, Simeon, 402 

Duer, , 402 

Dwight, John H., 265 

E 

Early's Raid, 250 

Eckert, George, 126 

Eckcrt, Thomas Thompson, ap- 
pointed major, 137; arrested 
as Northern spy, 130; at 
Lincoln's death-bed, 371 ; at 
McClellan's headquarters, 94, 
104, 107, 111, 132; breaks 
poker over his arm, 131 ; 
chief of War Department 
Telegraph Staff, 124; helps 
to frustrate attempt to 
burn New York, 299; inter- 
views with Payne, the assas- 
sin, 379; Peace Conference 
negotiations, 334; pro{)oscs 
plan for moving Hooker's 



corps to Tennessee, 176; 
saved from Southern mob, 
126; superintends gold-mine 
in North Carolina, 125; with- 
holds despatches from Lin- 
coln, 95, 132; withholds 
Grant's despatch removing 
Thomas, 316 

Eckert, William H., 346 

Edwards, R. C, 237 

Electoral Vote of 1860 and 
1864, 281 

Ellsworth, Elmer E., 8, 29 

Elwood, Isaac R., 125 

Ericsson, John, 117 

European recognition of the 
South, 160 



Farragut, Admiral, 355 
Felton, Samuel M., 177 
Field, Cyrus W., 257 
Fisher, Horace N., 159 
Forsyth, Captain, 66 
Foster, General, 151 et seq. 
Fox, Gustavus V., 143, 344 
France, recognition of the 

South, 159 
Franklin, William B., 250 
Fremont, John C, 269 

G 

Garfield, James A., 161 
Garrett, John W., 177 
Gillmore, Quincy A., 28, 275 
Gilmore, James R., 27 
Gladstone, William E., 6 
Gold, high market price of, 230 
Grant, General U. S., accepts 
and declines Lincoln's invita- 
tion to attend theater, 365, 
366 ; appointed lieutenant- 
general, 244; favorite saddle- 
horses, 348 ; invites Lincoln to 
visit City Point, 343; learns 
of Lincoln's assassination, 
372; leaves City Point for 
Washington, 364; "Let the 
fur fly," 346 
Grav, John P., 152 



428 



INDEX 



Great Britain, recognition of 

South, 159, 160 
Greeley, Horace, 291, 292 
Green, John A., 297 

H 

Hackett, James H., 223 

Hall, Edward A., 270 

Halleck, Henry Wager, 143, 

155, 174 et seq., 311 et ceq. 
Hamilton, George A., 237 
Hamlin, Hannibal, i?()8 
Hardie, James A., 249, 362 
Hardin, M. D., 253-254 
Harlan, Secretary, 187 
Harrison, Burton N., 203 
Hatter, John C, 365, 371, 386, 

387 
Haupt, Herman, 119 et seq. 
Hay, John, 30, 275, 283, 291 
Helms, General, 163 
Henry, Joseph, 26^ 
Herold, David, 369, 379 
Hewitt, Abram S., 270 
Hill, Adams, 242 
Hill, Benjamin H., 72 et seq. 
Hill, Frederick Trevor, 6 
Hitchcock, General, 112 
Holcombe, J. P., 85, 291 et seq 

Holmes, , 297 

Holt, Joseph, 293, 309 

Hone, , 402 

Hood, General, 310 
Hooker, Joseph, 175 et seq. 
Hooper, Samuel, 395, 402 
Howard, General, 9 
Howard, Joseph, 239 et seq. 
Howe, Julia Ward, 225 
Howell, A., 181 
Hunter, R. M. T„ 322 



Ingalls, Rufus, 64 



Jackson, Andrew, 6 
Jackson, M. M., 296, 299 
Janvier, Francis de Haes, 225 
Jaques, Charles W., 92, 93 



Jefferson, Thomas, 6 

Johnson, A. E. H., 48, 81, 109, 

112, 146, 195, 313, 323, 389, 

395 
Johnson, Andrew, 130, 267, 321, 

370, 384, 395 
Johnston, Joseph E., 69 

K 

Keene, Laura, 365 

Keith, Alexander, Jr., 72 et 

seq. 
Kelley, William D., 224 
Kello'g, Sanford Cobb, 170 
Kellogg, Mrs. F. B., 170 
Kelton, J. C, 68 
Kennedy, Robert C, 304 
Kennedy, superintendent of 

police, 300 
"Kerr, Orpheus C," 186 et seq. 
Kettles, William E., 360 



Laird, Thomas A., 360, 371 

I^eaming, Wallace, 238 

Lee, Robert E., 182, 205, 402 

Lieber, Francis, 203 

Lincoln, Abraham, Atlantic 
cable, recommends, 257; brief 
national career, 6; calls Stan- 
ton "Mars," 400; commends 
Grant, 123; commends Rose- 
crans, 159, 162; commends 
Thomas, 169, 320; dates, 
method of determining, 345; 
dissatisfaction with McCIel- 
lan, 101 et seq.; dissatisfac- 
tion with Meade, 156; dreams, 
influenced by, 215-, estimate 
of 1864 electoral vote, 279; 
forebodings of defeat in 
1864, 267; Fort Stevens, at 
Battle of, 252; last horseback 
ride, 350; last story told in 
telegraph office, 206; last 
telegraphic despatch, 362 ; 
lecture on "Discoveries and 
Inventions," 222; love for his 
children, 208; love of Shak- 
spere, 223, 226; manner con- 



429 



INDEX 



trasted with that of Stanton, 
389; Morse telegraph ex- 
plained, 4; patent of 1849, 
118; plays game of marbles, 
399; 

proclamations: bogus, 228; 
Emancipation, 138, 142, 
275; fast days, 154, 198; Re- 
construction, 275 ; thanks- 
giving, 156, 164, 166; 
religious beliefs, 215; Rus- 
sian Overland Telegraph, 257; 
signals, witnesses trials of 
new, 265, 266; 

stories and quaint sayings: 
Artemus Ward, 143, 187; 
Cave of Adullani, 193; 
Colt's revolvers growing in- 
to horse-pistols, 113; "Down 
to raisins," 41; "Have I 
hunkered you out of your 
chair?" 201; "Knee-deep 
and a sixpence," 206; Nas- 
by, 186; "Not good luck 
when he can't get a bite," 
200; Orpheus C. Kerr, 188; 
"Short-legged man in big 
overcoat," 207; "Small po- 
tatoes and few in a hill," 
266; "Spread out, spread 
out," 385 ; "The ass snuflfeth 
up the east wind," 185; 
"The fox reformed and be- 
came a paymaster," 212; 
"Then you avoid colli- 
sions," 204; Tom Hood's 
spoiled child, 198; two bark- 
ing dogs separated by 
fence, 115; 
swear words, 201, 202; tele- 
graph oflBce his resting- 
place, 3 
Lincoln, Edward Baker, 208; 
Robert T., 67, 214, 328; 
Thomas ("Tad"), 208; Wil- 
liam ("Willie"), 209 
Locke, David R. ("Nasby"), 

284 
Logan, John A., 310 et seq. 
Loucks, T. N., 254 
Lowell, James Russell, 4 
Lowry, David, 310 



M 

McCallum, D. C, 177 et seq. 

McCargo, David, 14 

McClellan, George B., charges 
Stanton with causing failure 
of campaign, 109 ; Democrats 
plan his nomination for 
Presidency, 161 ; disagree- 
ments with Administration, 
101 et seq.; succeeds Winfield 
Scott as commanding gen- 
eral 97 

McChire, A. K., 205, 223 

McDowell, Irwin, 88 et seq. 

Mallison, F. H., 239 

Marcy, R. B., 105, 107 

Marks, Albert S., 160 

Mason and Slidell, 98 et seq. 

Mason, Michael, 71 

Maximilian, 154 

Maxwell, Robert A., 167 et 
seq. 

Maynard, George C, 371 

Meigs, M. C, 12, 177 et seq. 

Minturn, , 402 

Mitchell, Ormsby M., 19 

Monitor and Merrimac, 115, 259 

Morgan, Senator, 274 

Morley, R. P., 22 

Morse telegraph, 4, 11, 124 

Morton, Oliver P., 199, 398 

Mudd, Samuel, 373 et seq. 

Murdoch, James E., 224 et seq. 

Murray, inspector of Police, 
300 

N 

Napoleon, Bonaparte, 6; Louis, 
154 

"Nasby" (David R. Locke), 186 
et seq., 284 

National thanksgiving day, first 
ever appointed in United 
States, 166; second, 156; 
third, 164 

Nevada admitted to Union, 
281 

New York "Journal of Com- 
merce" editor arrested, 232 

New York "World" editor ar- 
rested, 232 



430 



INDEX 



Nicodemus, Colonel, 265 
Nicolay and Hay's "Lincoln," 

40, 116, 193, 275, 313 
Nicolay, John G., 227, 267, 276 
Norris, William, 181 

O 

O'Beirne, James R., 373 
O'Brien, John E., 150 et seq.; 

Richard, 16, 36, 149 et seq. 
O'Laughlin, Michael, 365 et seq. 
Ord, E. O. C, 327 et seq. 
Osborn, William H., 271 
Oyama, Marshal, 12 



Painter, Uriah H., 247 

Payne, the assassin, 83, 370 et 
seq. 

Peace, agreement, Sherman- 
Johnston, 395 et seq.; Confer- 
ence, 292, 322 et seq. 

Pemberton, General, 69 et seq. 

Penrose, Captain, 354 

Phillips, Wendell, 269 

Pickens, Governor, 129 

Pierpoint, Governor, 361 

Plum, William R., 37, 50 et seq. 

Pope, John, 111 et seq., 118 et 
seq. 

Porter, Admiral, 354 et seq. 

Porter, Fitz-John, 167 

Potts, John, 131 

Prime, William C, 110 

Puleston, , 247 

R 

Rathbone, Major, accompanies 
Lincoln to Ford's Theater, 
368, 369 
Rawlins, John A., 314, 319 
Read, T. Buchanan, 225 
Reid, Whitelaw, 247 
Reynolds, J. P., 20 
Ricketts, General, 251 
Righton, Mrs. Starke A., 153 
Roberts, M. S., 230 
Robinson, Jesse H., 237 
Rosecrans, W. S., 158 et seq., 
172 et seq. 



Rosewater, Edward, 27 
Rucker, D. H., 106 



Sanborn, Anson L., 150 

Sanderson, J. P., 26 

Sanford, Edwards S., 35, 108 et 
seq., 133, 233 

Saunders, George N., 85, 291 et 
seq. 

Schenck, Robert C, 113 

Schoef, A., 47 

Schofield, J. M., 312 

Schurz, Carl, 184 

Scott, N. B., 13; Thomas A., 
20, 26, 88, 93, 177 et seq.; 
Winfield, 26, 87, 88, 97, 102 

Sedden, James A., 153, 181 

Seward, William H., 228 et seq., 
296, 329 et seq., 359, 370 

Seymour, Horatio, 168,294! et seq. 

Shaw, Leslie M., 255 

Shepley, General, 356 et seq. 

Sheridan, Philip H., 63 et seq. 

Sherman, William T., 311 

Sickles, Daniel E., 9 

Simpson, Matthew, 210, 216 

Smith, William P., 177 et seq. 

Spangler, Edward, 369 et seq., 
379 

Stager, Anson, 31 et seq., 49, 50 

Stanton, Edwin M., accepts 
Eckert's resignation, 407; ap- 
pointment as Chief Justice 
proposed, 402; asks Lincoln 
to call cabinet meeting Sep- 
tember 23, 1863, 173; coun- 
try's neglect in not erecting 
a monument to his memory, 
402; death, 402; denounces 
Sherman-Johnston agree- 

ment, 396; General Orders to 
Army, April 16, 1865, 282, 
374; his manner contrasted 
with Lincoln's, 389; nick- 
named "Mars" by Lincoln, 
400; plays "mumble-the-peg," 
398; throws Lincoln's card 
into waste-basket, 391 ; urges 
Lincoln to abandon theater- 
party, 366 

Stanton, Lewis, 398 



431 



INDEX 



Stephens, Alexander H., 126, 

3-22 et seq. 
Stewart, Frank, 46 
Stone, Amasa, 30; Charles P., 

94 
Storrs, Richard S., 344 
Strouse, David, 16, 27 
Sumner, Charles, 346 
Surratt, John H., 83, 376, 382; 

Mary E., 376, 379 
Swaim, James M., 261 
Swett, Leonard, 270 



tor N. B. Scott, 13; Con- 
gress grants members, certifi- 
cates of honorable service, 36; 
organization and staflf, 14 



Vallandigham, C. L., 287 et seq. 
VanDuzer, J. C, 314, 316 
Verdin, Doctor, 130 
Villard, Henry, 242 



Thomas, George H., 162 et seq., 
310 et seq. 

Thompson, Jacob, 76, 79, 168, 
282, 290, 299 

Tinker, Charles Almerin, deliv- 
ers Lincoln's despatch of Sep- 
tember 23, 1863, to George 
H. Thomas, 171; 
diary of May, 1863, 155; 
May, 1864, 245; September, 
1864, 175; 
explains Morse telegraph to 
Lincoln, 4; helps Lincoln to 
remember a name, 145; learns 
Swaim's new signal code, 262; 
Lincoln's last story told in 
telegraph office, 206; oper- 
ates new signals, 264, 265; 
takes charge of seized tele- 
graph office, 236 

Townsend, E. D., 47, 88, 344 

Trimble, Isaac R., 16 

U 

United States Military Tele- 
graph Corps, commended, by 
General Grant, 11; Quarter- 
master-General Meigs, 12; 
Secretary Stanton, 11; Sena- 



W 

Wade, Jeptha H., 125 
Walker, Asa, 387 
Wallace, Lew, 237, 250 
Ward, Artemus, 186 et seq. 
War Department, building, 146; 

library, 39 

telegraph office locations, 26, 
38, 87; plan, 144; staff, 
393 
Warren, Fitz Henry, 304 
Watson, Peter H., 139, 176 
Weitzel, Godfrey, 356 ct seq. 
White, Horace, 242, 267 
Whiting, William, 155 
Whiton, William H., 177 
Wilkes, Charles, 97 et seq. 
Wilkeson, Samuel, 247 
William IL German Emperor, 12 
Wilson, William Bender, 45, 88, 

199, 398 
Winans, Ross, 87 
Wing, Henry E., 244 
Wintrup, John, 207 
Wiswell, General, 236 
Wood, William B., 360 
Wool, John E., 116 
Worden, John L., 117 
Worl, J. N., 235 et seq. 
Wright, David M., 150 et seq.; 

H. G., 255 



432 



